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Silicon Times Report "The Original Independent OnLine Magazine" (Since 1987) May 23, 1997 No.1321 Silicon Times Report International OnLine Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155 R.F. Mariano, Editor STR Publishing, Inc. Voice: 1-904-292-9222 10am-5pm EST FAX: 904-268-2237 24hrs STReport WebSite http://www.streport.com STR Publishing's FTP Support Server 10gb - Back Issues - Patches - Support Files (Continually Under Construction) ftp.streport.com Anonymous Login ok - Use your Email Address as a Password Have you tried Microsoft's Powerful and Easy to Use Internet Explorer? Internet Explorer is STReport's Official Internet Web Browser. STReport is prepared and published Using MS Office 97, Corel Office Perfect 7 & Adobe Acrobat Pro Featuring a Full Service Web Site http://www.streport.com Voted TOP TEN Ultimate WebSite Join STReport's Subscriber List receive STReport Via EMail through The Internet Toad Hall BBS 1-617-567-8642 05/23/97 STR 1321 Celebrating Our Tenth Anniversary 1987-97! - CPU Industry Report - Woman gets $264k - OL Services SLOW - Acer Ships NETPCs - IE 3.02 U/L Added - Gnewt's on the WEB - Out of Band FIX - Shareware Listings - E-Rate OK'ed by FCC - Sentient Review - People Talking - Classics & Gaming Feds Probe Microsoft-WebTV Deal Microsoft, HP, 3Com Lead Poll HP to Launch New High-End System STReport International OnLine Magazine Featured Weekly "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports Adobe Acrobat Pro 3.0 Please obtain the latest issue from our Auto Subscription, Web Site or FTP Site. Enjoy the wonder and excitement of exchanging all types of useful information relative to all computer types, worldwide, through the use of the Internet. All computer enthusiasts, hobbyist or commercial, on all platforms and BBS systems are invited to participate. IMPORTANT NOTICE STReport, with its policy of not accepting any input relative to content from paid advertisers, has over the years developed the reputation of "saying it like it really is". When it comes to our editorials, product evaluations, reviews and over-views, we shall always keep our readers interests first and foremost. With the user in mind, STReport further pledges to maintain the reader confidence that has been developed over the years and to continue "living up to such". All we ask is that our readers make certain the manufacturers, publishers etc., know exactly where the information about their products appeared. In closing, we shall arduously endeavor to meet and further develop the high standards of straight forwardness our readers have come to expect in each and every issue. The Publisher, Staff & Editors Celebrating Our Tenth Year! 1987-1997 Florida Lotto - LottoMan v1.35 Results: 05/17/97: five of six numbers with four 3 number matches From the Editor's Desk... Memorial Day Weekend ..a nice long weekend. I wish all you a wonderful weekend of fun before the rush of Spring Comdex this coming week. I will tell you this Adobe has its guns loaded for 1997 and beyond with the world's finest graphical, Desktop Publishing, Photo managing software known to mankind. Not to mention the Acrobat Ensemble and the ever so powerful Photoshop. Look for all the updates and enhancements to hit with the flurry of a Fourth of July celebration. Adobe has the dominating lead in the fields of graphics and DTP and its given that there in nothing that this reporter is aware of that approaches the power and ease of use PhotoShop and PageMaker, along with all the other Adobe products, offer. Ralph... Of Special Note: http://www.streport.com ftp.streport.com STReport is now ready to offer much more in the way of serving the Networks, Online Services and Internet's vast, fast growing site list and userbase. We now have our very own WEB/FTP Site, do stop by and have a look see. Since We've received numerous requests to receive STReport from a wide variety of Internet addressees, we were compelled to put together an Internet distribution/mailing list for those who wished to receive STReport on a regular basis, the file is ZIPPED, then UUENCODED. Unfortunately, we've also received a number of opinions that the UUENCODING was a real pain to deal with. You'll be pleased to know you are able to download STReport directly from our very own FTP SERVER or WEB Site. While there, be sure to join our STR AutoMailer list which allows a choice of either ASCII or Acrobat PDF. STReport's managing editors DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! Ralph F. Mariano, Publisher - Publisher, Editor Dana P. Jacobson, Editor, Current Affairs Section Editors PC Section Mac Section Shareware Listings R.F. Mariano Help Wanted Lloyd E. Pulley Classics & Gaming Kid's Computing Corner Dana P. Jacobson Frank Sereno STReport Staff Editors Michael R. Burkley Joseph Mirando Victor Mariano Vincent P. O'Hara Glenwood Drake Contributing Correspondents Jason Sereno Jeremy Sereno Daniel Stidham David H. Mann Angelo Marasco Donna Lines Brian Boucher Leonard Worzala Please submit ALL letters, rebuttals, articles, reviews, etc., via E-Mail w/attachment to: Internet rmariano@streport.com STR FTP ftp.streport.com WebSite http://www.streport.com STReport Headline News LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS Weekly Happenings in the Computer World Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson ABC Launches Net News Site ABCNEWS.com, a 24-hour news service that will draw on the resources of ABC News' flagship news division, has been launched by ABC and Starwave Corp. The service will be supported by advertising revenue and available free to online computer users. ABC says it will upon world, national and local news coverage provided by ABC News and other ABC affiliates such as ABC News Radio, NewsOne and more than 200 affiliated stations. The Reuter News Service quotes Tom Phillips, president of ABC News Internet Ventures, as saying, "This is a medium where you can tell a story in a number of different ways. This is truly news on demand. It's fresh." ABC executives told the wire service they believe their service will reach a broader audience than the existing Internet news sites of their main rivals, MSNBC and CNN. MSNBC, a joint venture between Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Corp.'s NBC, was launched last July. Reuters notes CBS also is planning an entry in the Internet arena. A spokesman said the network will unveil its plans at its affiliate meeting later this month. The Internet address of the new site is http://www.abcnews.com. Oracle Eyes Netscape Unit Look for Oracle Corp. soon to announce plans to buy a unit of Netscape Communications Corp. that designs Internet-access devices. Neither company is talking publicly, but reporter Kourosh Karimkhany of the Reuter News Service quotes industry executives as saying the Network Computer Inc. unit of Oracle wants to buy Netscape's Navio Communications Inc., which makes software for browsing the World Wide Web through devices other than personal computers such as television sets and video game machines. Netscape established its Navio affiliate nine months ago and Oracle was among several consumer electronics companies to announce support for the venture at the time. Notes Karimkhany, "Oracle's network unit is designing software for so-called network computers, or NCs. These relatively cheap devices are stripped-down computers that get much of their horsepower from corporate or public computer networks, such as the Internet. Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, who runs the nation's second-biggest software company after Microsoft Corp., has been pushing the NC concept as a way for big companies to cut computer costs, and to get computers into the homes of less affluent consumers." Analysts point out that until now, the Oracle unit has been concentrating on corporate markets, but a Navio acquisition would give Oracle's network computer unit expertise in making consumer-oriented devices. Also, says analyst Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research Inc., buying Navio would help Oracle get consumer electronics companies to rally around the NC as a standard and stave off Microsoft in the battle for primacy in consumer's homes. As reported, Microsoft in March paid $425 million for WebTV Networks, the Palo Alto, California, firm that designs set-top devices for Internet access on TVs. Zilog Develops New Net TV Box An integrated design for building television set-top boxes for Internet access that can retail for less than $200 has been developed by chipmaker Zilog Inc. and privately-held consumer Internet software developer PlanetWeb. The announcement follows a number of similar designs by Internet startups such as ICTV, NetChannel Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s new acquired WebTV Network. From Campbell, California, the Reuter News Service notes that, unlike the other offerings, the Zilog-PlanetWeb offering is not currently available and it will rely on manufacturing partners to build and market the devices, "but the devices themselves are well below the current level of Internet devices now on the market for up to $400 each." A major supplier to the TV industry, Zilog says in a statement the device specification includes a built-in modem and allows users to access the Internet using virtually any Internet service provider. Says Reuters, "This is a contrast to WebTV, for example, which as the pioneer of the Internet television space requires customers to also use its WebTV Network service in order to be able to use its set-top devices." Zilog said its Internet appliance reference design -- licensed from MSU Corp. of Milton Keynes, England -- includes four megabytes of memory for storage of downloaded Web pages and two megabytes of downloaded read-only flash program storage memory. The design also allows for users to print Web pages. Acer Ships NetPCs Acer America Corp. has released a new line of NetPCs. The scaled-down business systems, which are designed to rely on the Internet for most of their computing power, begin at prices under $1,000, including a 14-inch monitor. Standard features include Pentium processors ranging from 133MHz to 200MHz, 16MB to 32MB of EDO memory and a hard disk with up to 2.1GB of capacity. The systems also feature a 3Com Network Interface Card, Intel LANDesk Client Manager, and Windows 95 preloaded. "For the first time, Acer can provide businesses with an out-of-box, network-ready solution preconfigured with industry leading software," says Steve Lair, senior vice president of commercial systems sales and marketing for the San Jose, California-based company. HP to Launch New High-End System A powerful high-end computer and other products are being launched by Hewlett-Packard Co., hoping to appear to be turning up the heat on its competition with rival Sun Microsystems Inc. Reporter Samuel Perry of the Reuter News Service notes an important analyst meeting is coming up in New York City and "HP must shake off a perception that it has been muddling through a series of product transitions while the rest of the industry is moving ahead at warp speed." Editor Andrew Allison of Inside the New Computer Industry told Reuters, "HP's lost momentum. There is a chance Sun can overtake them, but I wouldn't count them out yet." Perry says the showcase item of Hewlett-Packard's new products announcement is a new range of high-end V Series computers developed with technology from its Convex Computer Corp. subsidiary. Reuters says the V Series computers will be pitched as alternatives to mainframe computers of the variety made by IBM. This is the same market targeted by Sun Microsystems' Ultra Enterprise 10000 machines, code-named Starfire, launched in January. The Sun machines recently hit full production and have been so successful that output has already been raised. "It's going to leapfrog Sun Microsystems' Ultra Enterprise server," says analyst David Wu of ABN AMRO Chicago Corp. Watch for Sun to counter- strike. "You can expect enhancements across the board" to Sun's top-end systems, says Shahin Khan, director of marketing for Sun's Starfire business. Adobe Releases Dimensions 3.0 Adobe Systems Inc. has started shipping Adobe Dimensions 3.0, the first cross-platform version of its 3D rendering tool for Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 and Power Macintosh systems. According to the San Jose, California, software publisher, Adobe Dimensions 3.0 simplifies the process of adding 3D elements into artwork. The product includes a variety of production-quality 3D modeling enhancements, new editing controls for precise, real-time feedback when modifying graphics and tighter integration with Adobe's other graphics applications. Adobe Dimensions 3.0 is available now for $199. The upgrade price from any previous version of Adobe Dimensions is $69. Adobe Ships Enhanced Illustrator Adobe Systems Inc. is now shipping Adobe Illustrator 7.0, an enhanced version of its illustration software for Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Macintosh and Power Macintosh systems. The cross-platform product provides new productivity and flexibility enhancements that are designed to help users create designs and illustrations for multimedia, print and Internet applications. The San Jose, California, software publisher notes that the new look and feel of Adobe Illustrator 7.0 allows users to work more efficiently and intuitively across Adobe applications. The program offers menu structures, palettes and keyboard shortcuts that are identical to the ones found in Adobe Photoshop 4.0 and Adobe PageMaker 6.5. Adobe Illustrator 7.0 is priced at $595. Registered users of previous versions can upgrade for $99. Competitive upgrades are also available. Adobe Ships After Effects Update Adobe Systems Inc. has begun shipping Adobe After Effects 3.1 for Windows, an updated version of its desktop tool for digital compositing, 2D animation and special effects. After Effects, which can be used to create content for film, video, Web or multimedia applications, runs on Windows 95- and Windows NT-based PCs. The software is cross-platform compatible with the Macintosh version. Buyers can select from a Standard Version, which sells for $995; or a Production Bundle, which costs $1,995. Both the Standard Version and the Production Bundle include a CD-ROM featuring the application, Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 software, online documents in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), Adobe Type Manager 4.0 for Windows, QuickTime 2.1.2 for Windows and trial versions of other Adobe graphics programs and sample movies. Also included is direct access to After Effects product and technical information, updates and plug-ins via a link to Adobe's Web site. The Production Bundle adds three sets of additional effects tools. Netscape Releases 'Push' Preview Netscape Communications Corp. has announced the first preview release of Netscape Netcaster, a new component of its Netscape Communicator client software that enables the "push" delivery of sound, video and other dynamic content. Available to developers from the DevEdge web site (http://developer.netscape.com) today, Netscape Netcaster will be available for public download from the Netscape site (http://www.netscape.com) next week. According to the Mountain View, California, company, Netcaster gives users the ability to subscribe to dynamic Web content, called "channels." It also allows users to browse channels and Web sites offline, and to create a Webtop -- a favorite channel that's anchored to the desktop. Netscape reports that several leading content providers -- including ABCNEWS.com, C/NET, CNNfn and Wired -- have already created channels that are immediately available for free to Netscape Communicator users. "The addition of Netscape Netcaster complements the already tightly integrated e-mail, groupware and browsing components of Netscape Communicator, by providing even more advanced functionality for automatically receiving and viewing subscribed information," says Bob Lisbonne, Netscape's vice president of client product marketing. "With Netcaster, Netscape Communicator users continue to gain tremendous value by being able to receive rich, dynamic content delivered within the familiar, easy-to-use Netscape Communicator environment." Bell Atlantic Unveils Net Plans Regional phone company Bell Atlantic Corp. said today that next year it will offer customers a faster way to connect to the Internet and send and receive other data services over their computers. Associated Press writer Jeannine Aversa quotes officials with the Philadelphia-based phone company as saying the firm intends to offer by the middle of 1998 a new technology that will transmit voice, video and data over existing copper telephone lines, adding the technology is 100 times faster than using existing phone lines with the speediest modems, which now move data at 56 kilobits a second. Also, says the company, the technology is considerably faster than existing high-speed lines using "ISDN" technology which 206,000 Bell Atlantic customers now buy. Years in the making, the new technology, called Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, or ADSL, moves data up to 6 megabits a second. "For customers to use it," says AP, "they would need to buy ADSL modems and an Ethernet card for their personal computers -- if they don't already have one built in." President Fred D'Alessio of Bell Atlantic Consumer Services said, "ADSL puts consumers in the seat of a Ferrari, roaring past analog modem users still in the bicycle lane." Look for Bell Atlantic to roll out the technology first to residential customers, then to businesses. Spokeswoman Joan Rasmussen told the wire service monthly charges for the new high-speed connections, which would be regulated, have not been determined. As reported, Bell Atlantic is merging with New York's Bell phone Nynex, meaning that once the merger is complete, it will serve local customers from Maine to West Virginia. D'Alessio commented, "Today's Internet applications are becoming rich in multimedia content such as video and audio. Consumers are hungry for faster and faster speeds to take advantage of this content and for telecommuting or remote access to corporate computer networks." The firm also has entered into a four-year contract with DCS Communications of Texas to provide the equipment and software it needs to offer the high-speed connections. Microsoft, HP, 3Com Lead Poll A poll of U.S. brand equity in both the channel and the enterprise markets has found Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and 3Com at the head of the pack. Just completed by CMP Media Inc. and Interbrand Schechter Inc., the study, called The Power of Simultaneous Branding, is said to be the first to evaluate the strength of technology brands in these two key markets. "Through more than 2,400 interviews conducted during February and March of this year," says CMP in a statement from its Manhasset, N.Y., offices, "the research measures 24 brands in six product categories against more than 20 key factors." Vice President Jeffrey L. Strief of CMP's Enterprise Computing Group said the three firms that ranked highest "have demonstrated their competency in branding simultaneously to resellers and IS/network managers," adding, "Their effective messaging and consistent execution are 'Best of Breed' in high-tech." And John Russell, vice president/group publisher of CMP's Channel Group, says the synergy between resellers and their enterprise customers has never been stronger and "the study underscores the clear opportunity that exists for high-tech marketers to increase their brand equity overall by developing a communications strategy that includes both the channel and the enterprise." Categories included in the study were desktop PCs, mobile PCs, intranet/Internet software, PC servers, networking hardware and SQL database applications. Twenty-four hardware and software vendors' brands were evaluated, including 3Com, Acer, Ascend, Apple, Bay Networks, Cabletron, Compaq, Cisco, Computer Associates, Dell, Digital, Gateway 2000, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Informix, Lotus, Microsoft, NEC, Netscape, Novell, Oracle, SunSoft, Sybase and Toshiba. Sun Skirts Encryption Policy Plans to sell advanced data-security software from a Russian supplier to overseas customers means Sun Microsystems Inc. will be skirting U.S. export regulations and so is likely to receive close government scrutiny. Reporter David Bank of The Wall Street Journal says Sun is set to announce it will sell encryption software licensed from Elvis+ Co., a company formed by scientists from the former Soviet space program. Bank notes Sun has a 10 percent equity stake in the Russian firm whose Elvis+ products will be shipped to overseas customers from Sun distributors in third countries to keep them from falling under U.S. jurisdiction. "Sun's move illustrates how global market pressures are making it increasingly difficult for U.S. officials to control the spread of advanced encryption hardware and software," Bank comments. "The technology, which scrambles data to protect it from computer eavesdroppers, is considered vital to the growth of electronic commerce. But export of powerful encryption products is barred under U.S. export-control laws, on grounds that terrorists and others will use it to evade surveillance." The Journal quotes President/CEO Jim Bidzos of RSA Data Security Inc. as saying the Sun action will cause the Clinton administration to face a difficult decision. "The government," he says, "has to shut this down, or else the competitors of Sun probably have to say, `We're going to do the same thing.'" Bidzos, a long-time critic of the export controls, praised Sun's move as "blatant and in-your-face." The paper says Sun appears to be the first major company to use foreign software to supply overseas customers, adding the company's executives say they hadn't discussed the plans with U.S. government officials but had strictly adhered to current laws. Humphrey Polanen, general manager of Sun's network-security products group, told Bank, "This is not being done to subvert export-control laws but to deliver solutions to customers. Never before have organizations outside of the United States had access to such advanced security software." Meanwhile, privacy advocates, like Jerry Berman of the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C., say Sun's initiative will boost their goal of making high-strength encryption widely available. Said Berman, "We think the benefit for security outweighs the liability for law enforcement." Elvis+ products are based on a security protocol called SKIP that was developed by Sun, but Sun says it provided no technical assistance to the Russian company. "The distinction is crucial," says Bank. "The export controls cover any product developed with such assistance from a U.S. company." To be marketed under the name SunScreen SKIP E+, the product employs various encryption algorithms, or formulas, including so-called three-key triple DES and 128-bit ciphers, which security experts consider to be virtually unbreakable. New Net Threat Appears Internet Security Systems Inc. is urging network professionals to eliminate their vulnerability to a new potentially devastating method of attacking Windows-compatible computers on a network. The hacker technique, called the "WinNuke" or "Out of Band" ("OOB") data attack, has been reported to have already brought down thousands of computers worldwide, says the Atlanta-based company, which specializes in Internet security products. ISS says it has products available that allows network managers to take corrective actions and guard against future attacks. More details are available on the ISS Web site at http://www.iss.net. Slow Growth for Online Services Subscriptions to online services grew at a sluggish 6.6 percent rate in 1997's first quarter, according to new research from Cowles/Simba Information. The Stamford, Connecticut, company notes that more than 51 services reported a total 27.6 million subscribers for the three-month period ending March 31, compared to 25.9 million at year-end 1996. "America Online has so many more subscribers than any other online service, that when it suffers, so does the rest of the industry," says Karen Burka, editorial director of Cowles/Simba's Electronic Information Report. The service grew its subscriber base to 8.0 million in first quarter 1997, up 6.7 percent over 7.5 million at the end of 1996. "It's imperative that the service gets its network capacity up to speed to ensure its long-term growth," says Burka. Retailers Heading to the Web Retailers are continuing their slow but steady move toward providing online shopping, finds a new study jointly conducted by Computer Sciences Corp. and trade journal Retail Info Systems News. Along the way, they are also boosting their investments in data warehousing and executive information systems as they strive to find the right balance between operational efficiency and customer intimacy. As the Internet becomes more entrenched in the daily lives of Americans, notes the study, an increasing number of retailers are looking for ways to use the World Wide Web to fuel sales growth cost effectively. Nearly 20 percent of respondents surveyed by study said they currently offer online shopping -- up from 11 percent in 1996. An additional 39 percent say they plan to have operational cyberstores by 1999. The study finds that the heaviest users of the Web for shopping transactions are book and music retailers, grocery and department store chains and non-apparel specialty stores. "Retail has made the electronic shopping conversion from parlor game to business system -- from 'Visit my neat Web site' to 'Click here to order,'" says Steve Biciocchi, a partner with CSC's consumer goods and retail consulting practice in Cleveland. "The next great leap forward will happen when the capabilities and flexibility of online applications mature and truly meet customer needs, as in, 'Tell us where and when to deliver your order.'" Internet Changing Biz Landscape Internet commerce is changing the business landscape, finds new research from International Data Corp. "The use of Internet technologies is projected to become pervasive in the near future, leading to a dramatic change in corporations' business models," says Susan Tan, a senior analyst in IDC's consulting and management services research program. "Already, upstarts are using the Internet to challenge the market position of dominant players." Although true Internet commerce -- allowing customers to transact purchases over the Internet -- is still relatively uncommon, notes the Framingham, Massachusetts, market research firm, 46.4 percent of companies are planning to offer this capability. "This function represents the highest rate of response for planned use of the Internet. The trend suggests the first stage of use of the Internet has been mainly as an electronic publishing medium, while the next stage of use will involve more ordering, selling, and distributing goods and services. Internet commerce is clearly in the early stages of adoption." IDC's Web site (http://www.idcresearch.com) contains additional information and recent news releases. The site also offers full-text searching of recent research. Gingrich Puts Budget Docs Online House Speaker Newt Gingrich says documents dealing with the balanced budget deal will be put on the Internet so all Americans can see how it came about and what's in it. Gingrich told The Associated Press a home page labeled "a balanced budget for America's future" will allow people to consider the amendment "at the same time as the Washington insiders, have all the knowledge we have and truly move toward a balanced budget in the right way with the American people participating." AP says the material actually is available to two addresses on the internet. http://hillsource.house.gov/budg et.html and http://www.house.gov/gop/budget.html. In a House floor speech yesterday, Gingrich commented, "Every talk-radio show host, every single potential critic, every columnist will have access to the same data, but so will citizens without editing by anyone." He said material to appear online includes letters on the balanced budget sent from Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, and Gingrich to President Clinton and his chief of staff Erskine Bowles and summary documents on the budget agreement. The 'Eyes' of the Net Re-emerge Twenty-five years ago, when programmers at the University of Southern California needed an image to test the burgeoning technology of digital compression, someone decided to scan the eye of the "playmate" centerfold in the November 1972 Playboy. That image -- of Lenna Sjooblom's eye -- was sent to engineering labs around the world over the Arpanet, the primitive predecessor to the Internet, and today, Sjooblom's photo is believed to be the most-viewed image on the Internet. It also is the standard used to compare and test various graphic compression techniques. Now Sjooblom is making her first public appearance since her 1972 Playboy pictorial, attending the 50th Annual Conference of the Society for Imaging Science & Technology in Boston this week. Says Playboy Magazine, in a statement from Chicago, "At the conference, many of the world's leading digital imaging authorities will meet for the first time the beautiful woman who has been a mainstay of their work for the past quarter century. ... Sjooblom lived in Chicago at the time of her Playboy appearance, but soon returned to her native Sweden, married and had children, unaware of her notoriety in imaging scientific circles." A tribute to Sjooblom now is available on the "News Desk" on the "Playboy Home Page" on the World Wide Web (http://www.playboy.com). Feds Probe Microsoft-WebTV Deal Microsoft Corp.'s planned purchase of WebTV Networks Inc., which lets people cruise the Internet from their TV sets, is being investigated by federal antitrust regulators. Associated Press writer Jeannine Aversa quotes Gina Talamona, spokeswoman for the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, as confirming, "We are looking at the transaction." AP notes that under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, planned mergers in which the acquired company's sales or assets exceed $10 million must be reviewed by either the Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission. The Justice Department review determines if the $425 million planned merger would hurt competition, raise prices or otherwise harm the economy. Aversa adds that among the things the Justice Department is looking into is whether the Microsoft-WebTV merger would impede competition in the developing market for software contained in set-top boxes or future TV sets enabling TV viewers to connect to the Internet, said industry sources close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The Microsoft-WebTV deal," says Aversa, "comes as the computer industry and existing TV set makers race to define what the next generation of digital TV sets will look like. The prize: $150 billion in spending needed to replace the existing 220 million analog TV sets in the United States." Adds AP, "The computer industry's vision is essentially a large-screen computer that people use not only to get a crystal-clear TV picture but also to surf the Internet and send e-mail. TV set makers have a different vision: a wide-screen TV with superior picture and sound quality but little, if any, computer capability." Apple Loses Another Top Executive Apple Computer Inc. has lost another top-level executive. George Scalise, the computer maker's chief operating officer, is leaving the company to become president of the Semiconductor Industry Association. Scalise, 63, is the latest of a half-dozen high executives to depart Apple in the past few months. He says he has accomplished all his goals at the company. Prior to joining Apple about a year ago, Scalise served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer for National Semiconductor Corp. from 1991 to 1996. He has also served as a senior executive at Maxtor, Advanced Micro Devices, Fairchild Semiconductor and Motorola. "I look forward to the challenges and responsibilities of working at the SIA," said Scalise. "While we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the invention of the transistor this year, we're still a young and dynamic industry. We've grown at an average rate of 17 percent a year and continue to invent information technologies that are transforming the way we live, work and play." Woman Duped Online Gets $264,000 Some $264,000 has been awarded by a Virginia judge to a woman who met on the Internet a person she thought was the man of her dreams -- only to learn after four months after marriage that he was a she. Administrative assistant Margaret Hunter of Alexandria, Virginia, will get $250,000 in damages and $14,000 to cover what she spent on the couple's relationship -- including $9,500 for their wedding before 70 unsuspecting guests last April at a fancy hotel, The Associated Press reports, adding the ruling came from Circuit Court Judge Alfred D. Swersky in Alexandria. As reported earlier, Hunter, 24, met Holly Anne Groves, 26, of Bryan, Texas, online in the fall of 1995. In computer messages -- and later in person -- Groves called herself "Thorne Wesley Jameson Groves," and told Hunter she was a jet-set businessman dying of AIDS (an alleged circumstance that Groves said prohibited physical intimacy between the couple). Groves also bound her chest with bandages, saying she had rib injuries from a car accident. After their marriage, Hunter grew suspicious when Grove did not seem to be getting sicker or receiving any medical bills. When Grove's parents called and asked for "Holly," Hunter went looking for Grove's birth certificate and learned she was a woman. Following this week's court verdict, Hunter told reporters she hopes the fine will "send a real strong message" to Groves and others who misuse the Internet. A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N LEXMARK OPTRA C COLOR LASER PRINTER For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent to you that demonstrates LEXMARK Optra C SUPERIOR QUALITY 600 dpi Laser Color Output, please send a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to: STReport's LEXMARK Printout Offer P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155 Folks, the LEXMARK Optra C has to be the very best yet in its price range. It is far superior to anything we've seen or used as of yet. It is said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. The out put from the Lexmark Optra C is worth ten thousand words! Send for the free sample now. (For a sample that's suitable for framing, see below) Guaranteed. you will be amazed at the superb quality. (Please.. allow at least a two week turn- around). If you would like a sample printout that's suitable for framing. Yes that's right! Suitable for Framing. Order this package. It'll be on special stock and be of superb quality. We obtained a mint copy of a 1927 COLOR ENGRAVER'S YEAR BOOK. Our Scanner is doing "double duty"! The results will absolutely blow you away. If you want this high quality sample package please include a check or money order in the amount of $6.95 (Costs only) Please, make checks or money orders payable to; Ralph Mariano. Be sure to include your full return address and telephone number . The sample will be sent to you protected, not folded in a 9x12 envelope. Don't hesitate.. you will not be disappointed. This "stuff" is gorgeous! A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N-A T T E N T I O N Shareware Treasure Chest STR Feature "The Latest & Greatest" Shareware Treasure Chest By Lloyd E. Pulley lepulley@streport.com Name/Version Release Date Size Price Internet Explorer 32-bit 3.02 5/22/97 .82mb Free The update for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.02 provides RFC 1867 file upload capability which up until now it has lacked (Netscape already had it). Home Page Site - http://www.microsoft.com/ie/default.asp Name/Version Release Date Size Price Windows 95 TCP/IP Out-of-Band Security Fix 5/22/97 .25mb Free The information in this article applies to: · Microsoft Windows 95 · Microsoft Windows 95 OEM Service Release versions 1, 2, 2.1 On a computer running Microsoft Windows 95 (all releases) using the Microsoft TCP/IP protocol, the following error message may occur when certain data is received over the network: Fatal exception 0E at 0028:<address> in VxD MSTCP(01) + 000041AE. This was called from 0028:<address> in VxD NDIS(01) + 00000D7C. After this error message occurs, the computer may not receive further network data until Windows is restarted. This error message can occur if certain, very specific, "out-of-band" data packets are deliberately sent to the server during a TCP/IP session. Home Page Site - http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q168/7/47.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price Eudora Pro 32-bit 3.0.2 beta 4 5/16/97 6.00mb Shareware One of the best email clients around. It features: *Enhanced message filtering *Multiple e-mail accounts *Plug-ins *Stylized text *"Drag and Drop" support and almost everything else you can think off. Home Page Site - http://www.eudora.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price WinRAR 2.01 5/18/97 490kb Shareware $35.00 The RAR compression format compress files better than the ZIP format most of the time, but it is relatively unknown right now. It also has a cool interface, and also supports the ZIP compression, but needs pkunzip.exe and/or pkzip.exe. Home Page Site - http://www.inetpros.net/rar.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price Time & Chaos 32-bit 5.2.8 5/16/97 2.00mb Shareware $45 A really nice PIM that allows you to send email, faxes, make phone calls, and visite web sites all from the "phonebook". It also has to do lists, appointments books, and more. Home Page Site - http://www.isbister.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price ProPick NFL Football '97 1.97 5/15/97 1,847kb Shareware $15.00 A Windows NFL tracking and forecasting tool. It comes ready for the '97- '98 season with statistics it uses to make judgments on game outcomes based on weighted averages. It contains schedules for all the planned games for the year, including where the game is (home or away) and the day of the week it falls on. The program automatically figures out standings based on scores that the user enters as the season progresses to hone in on the winners. View weekly results, results by team, or predictions for upcoming games. Schedules, names and locations can all be modified through the easy- to-use pull-down menus. Home Page Site - http://www.adsnet.com/conan.brown/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Hardcopy 6.3 5/19/97 652kb Freeware A utility that is used to print out your screen or window. A title with the date, time, hostname and username is printed. Key [Print] - prints out the current screen. Key [Alt+Print] - prints out current window. A click of the hardcopy-icon in the taskbar prints out the current screen. You can change the settings that Hardcopy while saves the srceen, and doesn't print it, You can change the settings so that Hardcopy prints the screen to an other printer as the default. Home Page Site - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sweckman/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Excite PAL 32-bit 1.0 beta 5/16/97 .64mb Free Excite PAL is a confidential messaging service between you and your network of friends. You will be able to tell when family, friends and colleagues are online, plus you can send and receive messages instantaneously to anyone logged in to Excite PAL. Home Page Site - http://pal.excite.com/go.webx?98@@pal/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price pcANYWHERE32 7.5 5/17/97 4,770kb Shareware The fastest and easiest way to access applications and data remotely from a home or office PC or network-anywhere, anytime. Make quick and easy connections to check e-mail, support clients remotely, download files, or simply run remote applications as if you were right there. Home Page Site - http://www.symantec.com/pcanywhere/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price IPSentry 32-bit 2.1 5/17/97 4.00mb Shareware $129 PSentry is a Windows NT / 95 utility that will continuously monitor all your internet and intranet TCP/IP services 24 hours a day, ensuring your email servers, web sites, ftp servers, news servers, and any other TCP/IP based services are active and responding. In the event of failure, IPSentry will notify you (according to the defined schedule) via any or all of several different methods; PAGER, EMAIL via SMTP, AUDIBLE via .WAV or PC speaker, Launch external command. Utilize alert frequency scheduling, machine downtime scheduling and many more feature. Home Page Site - http://www.crackthecode.com/IPSentry/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Norton AntiVirus 2.0 5/17/97 5,710kb Shareware Removes viruses automatically, while providing the ultimate in Internet protection. It installs in minutes, is easy to use, and works in the background. Home Page Site - http://www.symantec.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price AntiHack File Protector 1.0 5/16/97 139kb Shareware $40.00 An unhackable file protector with multiple protections system. You can use the AntiHack File Protector to protect all of your personal files and not to worry that someone can see it. AntiHack will protect your files with password protection. But not just a simple password protection, It has a tremendous technique of password protection from VisuaLand Technology. You won't get any crackers trying bypassing your password, because it will ruin the other data. AntiHack is equipped with powerful level-protection system that has been tested to some professional hackers, and they admitted that AntiHack can't be easily cracked. We have created AntiHack for your best, simple and efficient personal data protection because AntiHack will also compress your file. Home Page Site - http://www.visualand.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price SubSpace for Win95 1.25 5/17/97 2.20mb Free A space type shoot 'em up with a difference. It's played entirely over the internet with all human opponents. The game itself reminds me in a way of the old Atari 2600 game Asteroids because the movement is basically the same. However instead of being one one small screen and blowing up asteroids, you are on a huge level and blow the crap out of other pilots. By itself the game is pretty good (nice graphics), however when you add real human players it really shines. At almost any given time you can find around 50-60 other people playing, so the action is always hectic. You can make squads, join teams, send messages while you play, and generally cause havoc. This game is really worth the download, it's nifty. Home Page Site - http://www.vie.com/subspace/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price NetToob Stream 32-bit 3.2 5/17/97 1.20mb Shareware $19.95 Provides the ultimate software-only solution for playing all current digital standards on a Windows based PC including MPEG-1, Video for Windows (AVI) and QuickTime for Windows (MOV) as downloaded media, and varied frame- rate MPEG-1 on-demand media without server software." With Net Toob, users now have the choice of playing media on-demand, simply by clicking on it, or by downloading the entire file and then playing it. Home Page Site - http://www.duplexx.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Stiletto 97d 5/18/97 650kb Shareware Perform cosmetic surgery on your programs/files interface with Stiletto: access commands by any mouse click on a tiny button bar, customized menus, tray icons, hot keys, screen corners, desktop clicks, submenus of your Start Menu, alarms, or timers. Instead of littering it with shortcuts, enliven your desktop by randomizing your wallpaper, sounds, and screen saver. Home Page Site - http://www.inforamp.net/~crs2086/index.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price WinZip Self-Extractor 2.1 Release 5/15/97 593kb Shareware Self-Extractor creates self-extracting or self-installing zip files. Home Page Site - http://www.winzip.com/betase.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price Quick Cab 3.0 5/15/97 999kb Freeware Lets you create .cab files for internet distribution, or just for archiving and backing up your own files. With an excellent interface, and easy to use options, Quick Cab is one of the best utilities of its kind. Home Page Site - http://www.cripton.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price FutCal32 7.0 5/18/97 35kb Shareware $35.00 Futures Calculator. The calculator evaluates futures fair values, deltas, thetas, rhos. Futcalc also determines the premium, basis, index value and implied dividend of the future. The index value is what the underlying's spot value should be given futures price. The implied dividend shows how the future's fair value differs from the market price. Spreadsheet template provided which shows how to use all the features of addin together with whatif analysis and charts. Home Page Site - http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/fis_ltd/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Net Term 32-bit 4.2.0 5/18/97 1.10mb Shareware $20 A windows communications program that provides a combination of ethernet and dial up telnet, ansi bulletin board support , and dialer programs, all in one. Enables fast dial up for SLIP/PPP Internet providers, as well as Internet SHELL access. At last, zmodem file transfers over the Internet! NetTerm will even allow editing a host file on your local computer, with just one command, 'netedit'. Need to print a unix file on your local printer, no problem, NetTerm will do that! NetTerm now supports International keyboards and VT100 line drawing support. Home Page Site - http://starbase.neosoft.com/~zkrr01/netterm.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price InfoTree32 3.2.1 5/15/97/ 2,530kb Shareware $39.95 Freeform information storage for Win95/NT from iSBiSTER Int'l. InfoTree32 is a great program to help get your information organized, whether it is meeting notes, project planning, home inventories, or even your recipies. Take those scraps of paper and piles of sticky notes and organize them for fast searching, retrieval, display, and printing. Build links to Web Sites or attach files. Includes full-featured text editor and MAPI email support. Home Page Site - http://www.isbister.com/itree32.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price IPage 32-bit preview release 2 5/18/97 2.00mb Free With ipage a quick glance of your list of "friends and associates" will let you know who is online at that moment. Contact any number of friends and associates and bring them all to a private chat room for group discussions or just to catch-up. Send links to any Real Media file to friends and associates and ipage will instantly launch the Real Player. Home Page Site - http://www.ichat.com/ipage/index.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Cool Clock! 1.0b 5/18/97 509kb Shareware A very configurable digital style clock which is actually displayed on your desktop, not in a window! It is texturemapped and animated. The time and date formats are totally configurable. The time/date can be scaled to any size and moved anywhere. Fonts are also user-definable. Built in CD- player and CD wake-up alarm functions. Home Page Site - http://www.engr.orst.edu/~schonfal/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Carmageddon Updated Demo 5/19/97 13.00mb Commercial Demo Pit your wits and wheels against 25 other maniac drivers over 36 race circuits in your quest to become the Prince of the Pile-up! Your car and those of your competitors behave in the most accurate manner yet used in a computer game. Watch your wheels moving independently on their suspension as you slide your car into your unfortunate competitors. Ram a competitor from behind as he corners and watch him flip over your head in a terrifying roll. You are also actively encouraged to destroy other contestants' vehicles on the track, awarding the victorious driver with credits, depending on the extent of the damage inflicted. These credits can then be exchanged for automatic damage repair to your car or better and more deadly features when you visit the parts shop. Home Page Site - http://www.sci.co.uk/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price EoEdit 32-bit .79 5/19/97 .03mb Shareware $5 EoEdit is a stripped-down text editor with the programmer in mind. It is a simple, fast text editor. Features include: *Font Style, Size, Color and Background Color Selection *Multiple Document Interface so you can work on several files at once without having to open more than one instance of the program and more. Home Page Site - http://vtg.org/bsmith/eoedit.shtml Name/Version Release Date Size Price POPit 32-bit 1.7 5/19/97 .12mb Shareware $10 POPIt is a Windows 95 and NT 4.0 winsock application which sits in the Taskbar tray and monitors up to ten (10) POP3 compliant mailboxes. POPIt continuously displays in the icon tray the number of received E-Mail messages. InstaScan displays the headers of any received mail. Any recieved message may viewed and printed using the InstaView feature. Un-wanted messages can be deleted quickly with a simple button click. Audible and/or visual notifications can be programmed to occur if new mail is received during a mailbox check that occurs at programmable intervals. You can also launch your favorite EMAIL application with a single button click. InstaReply lets you reply to received mail from a simple dialog box without having to launch your EMAIL Program. The InstaNote feature allows you to send a text message to any EMail address on-the-fly! The 'URL Trap" lets you go to any URL location embedded in a message from InstaView! Home Page Site - http://theweeds.smxcorp.com/popit.htm Name/Version Release Date Size Price NetLoad 32-bit 3.6a 5/19/97 .31mb Shareware $34.95 NetLoad is a fully automatic smart file transfer system which maintains remote sites using conventional FTP. Only new or updated files are transferred, and entire directories and sub-directories are recreated based on your directory structure. It now includes mirroring of remote sites. Home Page Site - http://www.aerosoft.com.au/netLoad/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price WebVCR 32-bit 1.0.4 5/20/97 1.60mb Shareware $19.95 WebVCR works like your home VCR: you program it with the sites you want, it "records" the web sites using your preferences, and you view your sites by "playing" them back on your favorite web browser. Unlike first generation offline browsers, WebVCR has a powerful, wizard-driven Windows 95 interface that puts you in control of recorded content, allowing you to specify exactly what you want to record and what you don't want to record. Plus, WebVCR doesn't limit you to a single cache of downloaded web pages. It allows you to create as many "Web Tapes" (recorded web pages stored in a file) as you like in any location on any media (hard disk, Iomega Zip, SyQuest SyJet, etc.) which makes it easy to archive, transfer, or distribute the web content you've recorded. Home Page Site - http://www.netresultscorp.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price DynamIP 3.0 for Win95 5/20/97 3.10mb Freeware DynamIP is a free Internet Utility (32bit, multi-threaded) for Windows 95/NT with the following features: - Dynamic IP address poster (updates your web pages with your current dynamic IP address; up to 5 connections) - POP mail checker (up to 5 e-mail accounts) - PC clock synchronizer (works with any NTP server) - IPchat (chat with other DynamIP users and establish a point-to-point connection with MS NetMeeting) - HTTPscan (scans arbitrary sequences of IP addresses and searches for web servers). DynamIP now includes a timer controlled RAS dialer and event driven program launcher! Home Page Site - http://crubelier.stanford.edu/~cmu/DynamIP/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Netscape Communicator 32-bit 4.0 beta 4 5/21/97 13.40mb Free The newest version of Netscape navigator. It features: Enhanced visual appearance and user interface, Taskbar that enables easy access to Communicator components, HTML Editing, Collabra Conferencing and a lot more. This version is the same as the last beta 4 [last week] but this version includes the netcaster add-on ("push" capability). Home Page Site - http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/4.0/relnotes/windows-4.0b4.html Name/Version Release Date Size Price Windows Commander 3.02 5/20/97 850kb Freeware An excellent replacement for the Windows95 Explorer. Small, quick, great features - everything you need!!! Home Page Site - http://www.ghisler.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Tanarus 32-bit beta .88 5/21/97 6.00mb Free [formerly called Armorgeddon] Tired of playing against your computer? Then prepare yourself for the ultimate online challenge in Sony Interactive Studio America's ArmorGeddon, a futuristic multi-player action/strategy tank game in which all the competition are other players just like yourself. Home Page Site - http://armorgeddon.station.sony.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Screen Print 32 1.2b 5/21/97 10kb Freeware Print your screen by simply hitting the Print Screen button on your keyboard. No icons to clutter up your desktop. No configuration neccesary. Will also print a specific screen area if required. Home Page Site - http://www.almac.net/personal/tdocherty/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price Java JDK 32-bit 1.1.2 5/22/97 8.00mb Free for personal use. The Java Developers Kit (JDK) lets you write applets that conform to the applet API for the Java Programming Language. Home Page Site - http://java.sun.com/ Name/Version Release Date Size Price FileHound 32-bit 0.9 5/22/97 .24mb Shareware $15 FileHound is a simple Winsock application that fills a serious need: One- step, robust file downloading from both FTP and Web servers. I'm sure you've used your web browser to download files, but you've probably experienced failed transfers, corrupted files and some horrifying lag during the downloads. FileHound ensures these things will never happen again. Even if you haven't had a lick of trouble, take a look at the features offered: * Multiple-file download queue with stop, start and resume. * Never gives up on a transfer. Will retry and resume automatically. * Advanced options for default directories, login ids, passwords. * Manages downloaded files, including file Open and Delete. Home Page Site - http://www.frii.com/~afs/filehound/ EDUPAGE STR Focus Keeping the users informed Edupage Contents Multifunctional Smart Cards Corbis Drops CD-ROM Project House Judiciary Endorses Lifting Ban Against Encryption Exports Steve Jobs Wants Apple To Dump The Newton Net Censorship Attempt HP Disconnects Modem Business VidModem Sends Two-Way TV Over Phone Lines On The Internet, Nobody Knows You're A Woman What Kind Of Web Animal Are You? Ellison Sees Himself As An Enlightened Egotist Safe Surfing Guidelines From ALA E-Rate Approved By FCC Dr. Know Espionage Goes To Cyberspace Oracle To Buy Netscape's Navio Sun To Sell Encryption Software Through Russian Firm Gateway 2000 Debuts NetPC Key Recovery System Is Full Of HolesNew Graduate Requirement Calls For Web Page CreationPushing Ahead Of Security MeasuresMicrosoft Adds Business News Partners To Explorer CD Sales Soar On The Web AT&T WorldNet Security Hits A Snag Sony Aims High In New Optical Disk Storage Solar-Powered Satellite Phones Technologies Americans Love To Hate MULTIFUNCTIONAL SMART CARDS Mondex International, a subsidiary of MasterCard, is leading an effort to develop a secure system (called Multos) for "smart cards" that could securely handle multiple functions (credit/debit purchases, an electronic cash purse, supermarket loyalty points, a security pass, a rail pass, etc.) on a single chip embedded in a plastic card. Functions could be changed or updated without re-issuing the cards. Other companies working with Mondex are Dai Nippon, Gemplus, Hitachi, Keycorp, Motorola, and Siemens. (Financial Times 16 May 97) CORBIS DROPS CD-ROM PROJECT Weakness in the CD-ROM market caused by competition from online content has led to a decision by Corbis Corp. to suspend a major CD-ROM project it had been working on: a biography of the photographer Ansel Adams. Corbis was formed in 1989 by Microsoft chief Bill Gates to develop an archive of digital images. (Wall Street Journal 16 May 97) HOUSE JUDICIARY ENDORSES LIFTING BAN AGAINST ENCRYPTION EXPORTS The House Judiciary Committee has approved the "Security and Freedom Through Encryption Act" -- a bill that would lift most restrictions on computer software and hardware products containing up-to-56-bit encryption technology. The bill now goes to the House International Relations Committee for consideration. The SAFE bill would also allow U.S. citizens to choose the methods they prefer to secure electronic transmissions; permit the sale domestically of any type of encryption; prohibit the government from mandating key recovery systems; and make it possible to charge someone with a federal crime "who, in the commission of a felony under a criminal statute of the United States, knowingly and willfully encrypts incriminating information relating to the felony with the intent to conceal such information for the purpose of avoiding detection by law enforcement agencies or prosecution." (BNA Daily Report for Executives 15 May 97) STEVE JOBS WANTS APPLE TO DUMP THE NEWTON Apple founder Steve Jobs, who was forced out of the company by then-CEO John Sculley but who now serves as an advisor to current-CEO Gil Amelio, says Apple ought to sell off its Newton technology used to produce handheld computers. Wearing worn jeans with patches, Jobs told a meeting of Apple developers that the company could manage two software projects at a time (Mac/OS and the next-generation "Rhapsody") but not three (those two plus the Newton operating system). Instead of working on the handheld Newton, Jobs thinks that Apple should be developing stripped-down "network computers" that could be used by "mere mortals" as alternatives to PCs in accessing information and software from the Internet. (San Jose Mercury News 17 May 97) NET CENSORSHIP ATTEMPT A group of parents in Columbus, Ohio, wants that state's legislators to require pornography-screening software for a new system that will tie together the state's 700 public libraries to the Internet. The group, called Citizens for the Protection of Children, says children should be protected from material on the Internet that depicts rape, torture or mutilation, and "chat line" overtures by pedophiles. A number of Ohio librarians have said the screening is too close to censorship and should be opposed. (AP 16 May 97) HP DISCONNECTS MODEM BUSINESS Hewlett-Packard is scrapping its high-speed cable modem business, deciding instead to focus on its core activities -- making PCs and peripherals. "We want to sell the servers that feed the pipe and the PCs and the printers that receive content from it. We just don't want to provide the pipe," says the operations manager of HP's broadband program. The company had been working on a QuickBurst cable modem and router products, but now says that a recent standards initiative made further investment in QuickBurst unattractive: "The MCNS has the potential of saying everyone has to start all over again." (Broadcasting & Cable 12 May 97) VIDMODEM SENDS TWO-WAY TV OVER PHONE LINES Objective Communications Inc., based in Chantilly, Va., has patented a signal-processing technology called VidModem that can accommodate simultaneous two-way video, voice and data over the standard copper telephone lines already found in homes and businesses. VidModem transmits via an FM signal rather than the AM signals used to transmit most television program over the airwaves or via cable. The technique uses compression technology to squeeze the 24 MHz FM signal into the 20 MHz bandwidth that the phone wires can handle. The company plans to start shipping a commercial system by the end of the year. (Business Week 19 May 97) ON THE INTERNET, NOBODY KNOWS YOU'RE A WOMAN A court in Virginia has awarded $264,000 to a woman who married a "businessman dying of AIDS" she met over the Internet but whom the woman discovered -- four months after the wedding -- to be another woman. (Washington Post 17 May 97) WHAT KIND OF WEB ANIMAL ARE YOU? Columnist Peter Huber says there are three types of people on the Web: the cheetah, the hippo and the cow: "The cheetah hunts. He pursues a single, specific target, selected before the chase begins. He runs in a straight line and, despite his great speed, covers little ground. He is a narrow- bandwidth beast... The hippo is a different beast entirely. You won't spot him sprinting across the Serengeti Plain. Instead, he lumbers from here to there, browsing on bushes and shrubs as he finds them. He covers a good bit of real estate because he craves variety in his greens. A medium-band beast... Cows graze. They inhale their grass, uncritically, in massive quantities, in the blandest of pastures. They are high- bandwidth, low-cal beasts. They are bred for television. The Web doesn't yet interest bovine herbivores at all. It won't until bandwidth goes up another hundredfold at best... The leading indicator for prosperity on the Web is bandwidth -- the speed at which Web connections transmit. And bandwidth is now increasing fast. There's enough to feed the cheetahs already. The hippos will follow before long. Even the cows will come home, just as soon as the trail to home.com gets broad enough." (Forbes 19 May 97) ELLISON SEES HIMSELF AS AN ENLIGHTENED EGOTIST Why has billionaire and Oracle founder Larry Ellison wanted to buy Apple Computer? Because he has a mission to put a computer on the desk of every American child. "This is all being done pro bono. The question is: What do you do with your life? This is what, after the first several billion dollars, keeps you going... I mean, the goal is not be the richest guy in the graveyard. I don't care how much I'm worth when I'm dead. How do I make myself feel good? The only way I know to make myself feel better is to make the world feel better. on't mistake that for altruism. It's egotism. Call it enlightened egotism." (Vanity Fair June 97) SAFE SURFING GUIDELINES FROM ALA The American Library Association has drafted a set of guidelines for librarians, suggesting ways to assist patrons in using online searches without incurring liability for ones that turn up potentially offensive or "indecent" material. The guidelines offer "some easy things that a library can do at this point rather than trying to block access to the Internet or put up filters or do something that is so restrictive to their patrons' access to the Internet," says the assistant director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. The recommendations include: educating staff, library board, governing bodies, community leaders, parents, children, etc. about the Internet and what it offers; establishing and implementing written policies on Internet use; reminding parents that they are responsible for their children's Internet use; creating and promoting Web pages with recommended sites for parents and children; and placing terminals away from public view so that others are not offended by any particular user's choice of viewing material. (Chronicle of Higher Education 23 May 97) E-RATE APPROVED BY FCC The Federal Communications Commission last week voted unanimously to approve deep discounts on telecommunications service charges for schools and public libraries. The "E-rate," as it's called, will be available Jan. 1 and will save schools anywhere between 20% to 90%, depending on poverty rate and telecommunications costs. The discounts cover phone calls, wireless services, Internet access, and the installation and maintenance of internal connections within a building. Companies that provide the services will be compensated through a universal-service fund created by fees paid by all telecommunications providers. internet service providers do not have to contribute to the fund. Secretary of Education Richard Riley pointed out that the biggest task is yet to come: "We have a great responsibility. Most of all, we must show that it really makes a difference in theclassroom." (Education Week on the Web 14 May 97) DR. KNOW Xerox and its Japanese sister corporation Fuji Xerox are recognizing the world's transition into a "knowledge- based society" by establishing a "Xerox Distinguished Professor in Knowledge" chair at the University of California at Berkeley. The first occupant of the chair will be well-known management theorist Ikujiro Nonaka. The effort underscores Xerox's belief that the role of knowledge in the Information Age will become increasingly important. "The difference between being effective and being just efficient, is the ability to access, define, utilize and disseminate the collective experiences of everyone in the company," says John Seely Brown, head of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. The hope is that companies will learn how to document and pass on "tacit knowledge" -- best practices for solving specific problems or creating specific products that can be made electronically available to others in the company. "It would put an intellectual library at digital fingertip reach," says a senior VP of strategy. (New York Times 19 May 97) ESPIONAGE GOES TO CYBERSPACE Industrial espionage is on the rise as warfare increasingly is waged with information, not bombs and bullets, says leading U.S. computer security expert Winn Schwartau. Schwartau, author of the 1994 book "Information Warfare: Chaos on the Electronic Superhighway," told government and private sector information security experts that the emerging global economy and the growth of cyberspace raise new concerns about economic intelligence and hostile corporate covert actions. He contends that in the information age, companies and countries must warily guard new targets: their information and the computer infrastructures that support financial, power, transportation and communication systems. This notion, which the U.S. military has embraced, holds that global conflicts will increasingly revolve around information and the profits they promise. Mr. Schwartau estimated the U.S. economy loses more than $100-billion annually through economic espionage, growing by 500% since 1992. (Ottawa Citizen 14 May 97 F3) ORACLE TO BUY NETSCAPE'S NAVIO Oracle Corp. will purchase Netscape spin-off Navio Communications, created last year to develop software for information appliances. Navio has been developing a version of Netscape's popular browser that will work with TVs operated by remote control and "smart" phones with small display screens. "If they can put together their technologies and generate some efficiencies, it makes an awful lot of sense to me," says one industry observer. (Wall Street Journal 19 May 97) SUN TO SELL ENCRYPTION SOFTWARE THROUGH RUSSIAN FIRM Sun Microsystems will sell encryption software licensed from Elvis+ Co., a company formed by scientists who worked on the former Soviet space program. The software will be shipped to overseas customers from Sun distributors in third countries, effectively skirting U.S. encryption export laws. Jim Bidzos, CEO of encryption firm RSA Data Security, says the move is "blatant and in-your-face," and warns "The government has to shut this down, or else the competitors of Sun probably have to say, 'We're going to do the same thing.'" Sun's general manager of network- security products defends the action, saying "This is not being done to subvert export-control laws but to deliver solutions to customers. Never before have organizations outside of the United States had access to such advanced security software." (Wall Street Journal 19 May 97) GATEWAY 2000 DEBUTS NETPC On May 21, Gateway 2000 will unveil the industry's first NetPC -- code- named Tomahawk -- priced at less than 1,000 without a monitor, and sporting a 133-MHz Pentium chip, 16 MB of memory, a 1-gigabyte hard disk and a speedy network connection. "This is going to be great for the corporate market," says Gateway's VP. The slimmed down PCs run Windows programs and have the advantage of the hard disk -- one item the widely touted NCs (network computers) won't have. NCs rely on a server for software applications and file storage. "With such low prices, that would allow me to go in to my managers every year or so and say I need new machines," says a Merrill Lynch VP. (Business Week 26 May 97) KEY RECOVERY SYSTEM IS FULL OF HOLES The U.S. government's plan for allowing companies to export powerful encryption software on the condition that they establish a third-party key escrow system could actually increase security risks and raise the costs of online commerce, says a study coordinated by the Center for Democracy and Technology. One of the 11 scientists who participated in the study says that having a key recovery system is similar to having a skeleton key to your house in addition to the real key -- the skeleton key is easy to copy. "So the existence of skeleton keys or trap doors, as the government is proposing, is inherently risky." "A key-recovery system is going to be extraordinarily hard to design and build economically, safely and reliably," says another. (New York Times 22 May 97) NEW GRADUATE REQUIREMENT CALLS FOR WEB PAGE CREATION Starting with the year 2000, students at Kalamazoo College will be required to create a portfolio of Web pages documenting their academic and extracurricular activities. Called a "K Portfolio," the exercise is meant to improve the academic advising process, by dividing activities into five categories: lifelong learning, career readiness, social responsibility, intercultural understanding and leadership. "We're changing the entire face of advising, basically," says one of the project's coordinators. "The Web organizes things by theme or topic. It encourages you to see how many little physical blue links you can make between different things." (Chronicle of Higher Education 23 May 97) PUSHING AHEAD OF SECURITY MEASURES The rush toward "push" technology is leaving some information systems managers scrambling for security measures adequate to protect corporate networks from untrustworthy applets. "The technology is moving ahead of security options available to manage it," says AlliedSignal's manager of information technology. "Pushing text and data is fine, but when you get into the executable world, it opens the door for hackers to create a virus or get into sensitive information." And while Java has a built-in security mechanism called a "sandbox" that limits an applet's ability to access system files, Microsoft Active X controls rely on a digital signature to identify a trusted source. "Once an Active X control is running on your machine, you have no way to constrain what it does," says the head of Princeton University's Safe Internet Programming Team. (CIO 1 May 97) MICROSOFT ADDS BUSINESS NEWS PARTNERS TO EXPLORER The browser wars continue: Microsoft announced it has signed up more than a dozen major business information providers, including Dun & Bradstreet, First Call, Forbes, Time Warner's Fortune magazine, and Dow Jones & Co., to beef up its "push" channels for Web content that will be included in Explorer 4.0. "This is a real strike against Netscape's attempt to penetrate the enterprise market," says a Dataquest analyst. Meanwhile, Netscape's list of new content providers includes Knight-Ridder, Federal Express and Excite Inc. The company had announced earlier that information providers such as CBS Sportsline, CNNfn and Hearst's HomeArts Network will create channels that work with Netscape's Communicator software. (Wall Street Journal 22 May 97) CD SALES SOAR ON THE WEB It turns out that online music buyers isn't just for twenty-somethings, after all. A recent survey of Music Boulevard's customers shows that half the frequent buyers are over 30, and that "Leonard Bernstein's New York Philharmonic Review" has been the best-selling disk since Christmas. "A 45- year-old guy doesn't want to hand his Frank Sinatra CD to a kid with a Mohawk and a nose ring" at the cash register, says the president of another online music seller, CD Now. Jupiter Communications predicts that online CD sales will more than double this year to $47 million -- up from $19 million in 1996. (Business Week 26 May 97) AT&T WORLDNET SECURITY HITS A SNAG A security window on AT&T's WorldNet service has been left wide open, says a database engineer who subscribes to the service. The account access pages on WorldNet's Web site are not protected by Secure Sockets Layer, the widely used protocol for authenticating and encrypting transactions over the Internet. "We sat there and just started grabbing packages and dumping them into a database," says the engineer. "Read them off and you can get people's e-mail IDs, passwords, all that data." An AT&T representative says they're investigating the possible exposure, but says the chances that any damage has been done is slight, because only WorldNet subscribers have access to those pages. (PC World News Radio 21 May 97) SONY AIMS HIGH IN NEW OPTICAL DISK STORAGE Sony is planning a new technology for high-capacity recordable optical disks that will hold 2.6 gigabytes, or about an hour of regular-format television. The disks are due out by the end of the year. Future plans call for a revised format capable of storing 12 gigabytes of information on a single side of a disk the size of a CD. That product should be available by 2000, and will hold about 1.2 hours of high-definition TV programming. (Investor's Business Daily 21 May 97) SOLAR-POWERED SATELLITE PHONES Australian national telecommunications carrier Telstra is making a new connection -- it's distributed to 10 remote communities telephones that employ both solar power and satellite communications. "We're not only providing technology to remote communities, but we're getting away from using fossil fuels," says the principal technical officer at Telstra. "It's clean and green." Fifteen percent of Australia's population is spread out over an area that covers 80% of the continent, and the roughly 17,000 phone lines that serve this group works out to less than one line per 385 sq. kilometers. In some communities, the new Interra Net system will work side-by- side with older diesel-powered digital radio transmitters, which are in the process of being upgraded to offer ISDN, fax and Internet services. (TechWire 22 May 97) TECHNOLOGIES AMERICANS LOVE TO HATE America's Research Group conducted a survey of 1,000 consumers late last year, and discovered that Internet shopping is No. 2 on the list of technologies people wish had never been invented. And No. 1? "What America calls the dreaded voice mail. This is where they're put into a machine that instructs them what to do. They press all these different keys. Ultimately, they never talk to anybody. And many times they find their phone call is never returned. This is not only far and away the thing they most wish was never invented, but it's also probably the biggest negative to customer service today," says ARG founder C. Britt Beemer. Internet shopping came in second because customers found "it was more difficult than I thought it would be. And it took too much time." Another commented, "What happens if I have a problem with the product? I can't shove it in my hard drive and send it back." Meanwhile, car cell phones came in third place: "This was a shock to me," says Beemer. "People don't like seeing other people using a cellular phone in a car. Virtually every woman who was married with children said they thought it was a road hazard... They view car cell phones as devices that jeopardize their families." (Investor's Business Daily 22 May 97) Edupage is written by John Gehl (gehl@educom.edu) & Suzanne Douglas (douglas@educom.edu). Voice: 404-371-1853, Fax: 404-371-8057. Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology, University of North Carolina. EDUPAGE is what you've just finished reading. To subscribe to Edupage: send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: subscribe edupage Marvin Minsky (assuming that your name is Marvin Minsky; if it's not, substitute your own name). ... To cancel, send a message to: listproc@educom.unc.edu and in the body of the message type: unsubscribe edupage... 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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE The CAUSE organization's annual conference on information technology in higher education is scheduled for the end of this month in New Orleans. The conference will bring together administrators, academicians and other managers of information resources. For full conference information check out <http://cause-www.colorado.edu > or send e-mail to conf@cause.colorado.edu. ARCHIVES & TRANSLATIONS. For archive copies of Edupage or Update, ftp or gopher to educom.edu or see URL: < http://www.educom.edu/>. For the French edition of Edupage, send mail to edupage-fr@ijs.com with the subject "subscribe"; or see < http://www.ijs.com >. For the Hebrew edition, send mail to listserv@kinetica.co.il containing : SUBSCRIBE Leketnet-Word6 <name> or see < http://www.kinetica.co.il/ newsletters/leketnet/ >. For the Hungarian edition, send mail to: send mail to subs.edupage@hungary.com. 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Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205 Kids Computing Corner Frank Sereno, Editor fsereno@streport.com Sentient Windows 95 CD-ROM Street Price: $49.95 For ages 13 and older Mild animated violence Psygnosis 919 East Hillsdale Blvd Foster City, CA 94404 (415) 655-8031 http://www.psygnosis.com Program Requirements OS: Windows 95 CPU: Pentium 90 (P133 recommended) HD Space: N/A Memory: 16 MB Graphics: 640 x 480, 256 colors CD-ROM: Double-speed Audio: Sound Blaster or compatible Optional: joystick, printer Direct3D: Creative Labs 3D Blaster and Matrox Mystique 4MB review by Jason Sereno (jason.sereno@mules-ear.com) Psygnosis' latest offering is possibly one of the most advanced games to date for the PC. Sentient is truly a breakthrough with its non-linear story line and over sixty interactive characters. These characters live in a space station with two hundred rooms. Sentient features a 3D interface that utilizes Direct3D. The program is truly unique because it combines elements of mystery, sci-fi, adventure, and role-playing games around an interesting plot. Sentient also uses a graphically enhanced menu-driven dialogue interface that is reminiscent of early PC games. It also contains many cinematic scenes that contain breathtaking colors and landscapes. Sentient is the next step in PC gaming and is definitely a step in the right direction! You are Garrit, a medical technician from Earth who is investigating the radiation sickness aboard the space station Icarus that orbits the sun, Xexor. The space station is mining a new source of energy that could be causing this sickness. While you are approaching Icarus, a solar flare erupts that causes you to crash into the Icarus docking bay. After your rescue, you see that the radiation sickness is not the only problem aboard. An assassin has murdered the Captain. The station is headed for the sun so the engineers are considering taking control of the ship, too. In addition, there have been strange messages sent to Suzie, the station's computer. Sentient has six main plots and many sub plots within the game that will make each gamer's experience unique. The game contains over sixty characters with distinct personalities. One might just hold the key to completing the game. Every interaction with a character changes your relationship with him. If you give too many commands or do not answer questions when asked, you could be getting yourself into a predicament. You must play your cards right to accomplish your mission on the space station. With all of the characters and plots, you can reach many possible endings. The game is always different and you will never tire of playing it. Icarus is very large with over two hundred accessible rooms on twelve decks. The rooms are divided by function. All medical rooms are on the same floor and the engineering rooms are grouped together, too. The station numbers the rooms uniquely. For example, if you wish to find the room 123, you would try to find the row of vertical rooms with a one in the hundreds place. These rooms would be arranged such as 169,150,141,132,123, 114, etc. You could also find the horizontal row that is in the twenties (420,321,222,123, 024, etc.). If you were to follow one of the rows, you would eventually find room 123. The 3D interface really brings life to the story. Player movement is accomplished with the keyboard. The keyboard is also used to change your facial expression, talk, or choose an action. Players use the mouse to choose objects by clicking the left mouse button on a person or a device. When holding down the right mouse button, you may look around to see your surroundings. When you want to talk to someone, all you have to do is press "enter" when standing next to the person. You can choose what you will say with the game's different subjects, verbs, predicates, and nouns. You will choose each sentence part in a Windows 95 type menu. Once you pick the basic structure of the sentence, you will pick words to fill in the blanks. If I wanted to ask this question: "Does ____ have access to the _____?", I would choose the sentence from the questions' list, then pick a person to go in the first blank and a room to go in the second. After I finish my question, the character will respond accordingly. The 3D graphics look great in the program, but only if you have a powerful graphics card. If you do not have a 3D card, then the graphics will not look as good as they do with Direct3D. In tests run on a common 1MB video card, the program's animations were choppy and slow. Some of Psygnosis' new releases are 3D only and will require 3D video cards. Be prepared to upgrade both your CPU and video card if you want to play the newest and hottest games. Sentient contains few sounds. All characters speak using voice bubbles. This is sometimes tedious to wait for the words to come along on the screen and is definitely a drawback in the game. Sounds are constant throughout the game though. You can hear machine type sounds in engineering and when you open all of the doors there are beeps. (Reminiscent of Star Trek.) Music isn't present except for in the video sequence in the beginning of the program. This game is truly remarkable in the gameplay aspect. Never before has there ever been a game with so many characters and a large area to interact with them. The graphics will surprise you if you have a 3D video card but the sounds might leave you disappointed. The game is great to play and will stay that way with the many different endings and the myriad plots. The menu driven interface is simple to use and it is a different look than most games. Sentient is a great sci-fi game with great plot twists and numerous story changes that will always keep you on the edge of your seat! Sentient is also available for the Sony Playstation. Special Notice!! STR Infofile File format for Articles File Format for STReport All articles submitted to STReport for publication must be sent in the following format. Please use the format requested. Any files received that do not conform will not be used. The article must be in an importable word processor format for Word 6.0 and/or Word Perfect 7.. The margins are .05" left and 1.0" Monospaced fonts are not to be used. Please use proportional fonting only and at Twelve (12) points. · No Indenting on any paragraphs!! · No Indenting of any lines or "special gimmickery" · No underlining! · Columns shall be achieved through the use of tabs only. Or, columns in Word or Word Perfect format. Do NOT, under any circumstances, use the space bar. · Most of all.. PLEASE! No ASCII "ART"!! · There is no limits as to size, articles may be split into two if lengthy · Actual Artwork should be in GIF, PCX, JPG, TIF, BMP, WMF file formats · Artwork (pictures, graphs, charts, etc.)should be sent along with the article separately · Please use a single font only in an article. TTF New Times Roman 12pt. is preferred. (VERY Strong Hint) If there are any questions please use either E-Mail or call. On another note. the ASCII version of STReport is fast approaching the "end of the line" As the major Online Services move away from ASCII.. So shall STReport. All in the name of progress and improved readability. The amount of reader mail expressing a preference for our Adobe PDF enhanced issue is running approximately 15 to 1 over the ASCII edition. I might add however, the requests for our issues to be done in HTML far outnumber both PDF and ascii. HTML is now under consideration. We'll keep you posted. Besides, STReport will not be caught in the old, worn out "downward compatibility dodge" we must move forward. However, if the ASCII readership remains as high, rest assured. ASCII will stay. Right now, since STReport is offered on a number of closed major corporate Intranets as "required" Monday Morning reading.. Our ascii readers have nothing to worry themselves about. It looks like it is here to stay. Many grateful thanks in advance for your enthusiastic co-operation and input. Ralph F. Mariano, Editor rmariano@streport.com STReport International Online Magazine Classics & Gaming Section Editor Dana P. Jacobson dpj@streport.com From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" Ahhhhh, it's that annual time of the year for the "rites of Spring" - the long Memorial Day weekend. Did you notice that due to the politicians and retailers, Memorial Day is observed almost a week early this year? Bring back the traditionalists! With the holiday weekend upon us, no one is going to be interested reading editorials - including me! Just the usual reminder to behave yourself this weekend. If you're going to party, and you will - please do not drink and then drive - it's not worth it. We want to see you around next week! Until next time... Croft Soft Software Press Release: 16/05/97 Atari Times ----------- Issue 9 of our popular disk magazine 'The Atari Times' marks its first birthday. To mark this, we have produced the biggest issue ever :) This issue has contributions from: - Matthias Jaap - Richard Spowart - Ashley Seabrook - Robert Goldsmith - and a few more people... The Atari Times can be obtained from the following sources: - Croft Soft Internet Publications http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/polonowski/ - 42BBS 01256-895106 - Floppyshop PO Box 273, Aberdeen, AB15 8GJ, Scotland, UK - Any FAN connected BBS - Direct from Croft Soft Software Send SAE, and disk to: Atari Times c/o Colin Polonowski The Croft Hope Rd Nibley Nr Yate Bristol, BS17 5JH We are also considering starting a email mailing list from issue 10. If you want to be included on this list then send an email with a suitable request to: polonowski@zetnet.co.uk People on this list will also receive any press releases from Croft Soft Software. Mole Mayhem ----------- It's still not finished unfortunately! We have had a few technical problems with the Falcon sample routines as well as a small setback on the music front! While we try to sort these difficulties out time is also being spent on designing the last few levels. We are currently unable to give a release date but hopefully it shouldn't be much longer! Croft Soft Internet Publications -------------------------------- Croft Soft Internet Publications is still being developed. It consists of a number of different sites, not all of which are Atari related. There are a number of new guestbooks so if you visit please do take the time to fill one in! Visit CSIP at: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/polonowski/ Text Editor ----------- We are currently investigating the possibility of developing a new text editor for all Atari computers. We realize that the Atari market is currently flooded with them but if we do go ahead we will aim to make this one something special. We have no solid plans but some of the features will hopefully include: - Full modern GEM interface - Compatibility with all major Atari operating systems - Large powerful dictionary - Fast operation - Search and replace - Macro's - Support for a number of file types such as STOS *.BAS files and others - On-line ST-Guide and HTML format manual - Full support for multitasking systems such as MagiC, Geneva, Multi-TOS, MagiCPC and MagiCMac. - Make use of available hardware - FPU, Nemesis etc. - Compatibility with low memory systems As stated above, this is only a possibility. If we decide to go ahead then work will begin once Mole Mayhem is completed. Copyright 1997 Croft Soft Software Snail-mail: Croft Soft Software, The Croft, Hope Rd, Nibley, Nr Yate, Bristol, BS17 5JH E-mail: polonowski@zetnet.co.uk URL: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/polonowski/ Netmail: Colin Polonowski on 90:100/300@nest Tel: 01454-313352 BFN, Colin Polonowski Croft Soft Software Atari Times NeST - 90:100/300 Fido - 2:252/502.0 http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/polonowski Hi! NEWSie v0.76 by John Rojewski is released. The Status display is now placed into a window by default. The Load and Save Preferences has been changed to display all .INF. Account Field in Personal Preferences Dialog separates the user account from the eMail-address. The Ftp-dialog is modified and NEWSie supports User Defined Function Keys. You will find NEWSie at: http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille/english/newsie.html (web_apps.html) and of course at: http://www.primenet.com/~rojewski I have a Swedish support page for COPS - the COntrol Panel Server, that is a very good replacement for the old Atari XCONTROL. http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille/svenska/cops.html Best Regards Mille Babic eMail: mille@mail5.tripnet.se http://www5.tripnet.se/~mille (English, German, Swedish, Croatian) Atari Falcon CPU40MHz:DSP50MHZ (12MB RAM 540MB+1.0GB HD) N.AES Operating System with MiNT Kernel and N.Thing Desktop Gaming Section Broderbund Returns to Gaming! "Original Gaming!" From the Editor's Controller - Playin' it like it is! A long weekend, depending on what the weather is like, could mean some long sessions on the game consoles. I hope to re-visit some old Jaguar favorites as well as a new one or two. The summer months are almost upon us; the usual news "drought" is about to take hold as the temperature rises. Let's hope it cools down nature-wise so the news and info continues! Until next time... Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News! Broderbund Renews Games Effort Veteran software publisher Broderbund Software Inc. is renewing its bid for a piece of the games market, launching a new brand without the family-oriented associations of the parent company. Reporting from Novato, California, The Wall Street Journal says Broderbund has formed Red Orb Entertainment, a new unit charged with developing games and other entertainment programs. Along with in-house development, Broderbund has deals with seven outside companies to develop products that will carry the Red Orb brand. "It can use a little excitement," the paper comments, noting the firm "has been hurt by fierce price cutting and other problems." Broderbund posted a $3.5 million loss in the fiscal second quarter ended Feb. 28 after a $9 million acquisition charge. While Broderbund was publishing games more than a decade ago -- its "Myst" still is a hit after four years on the market -- but most of its revenue comes from educational titles such as the "Carmen Sandiego" titles and productivity programs such as the Print Shop series. "The edutainment field has not been nearly as lucrative lately as action titles such as 'Doom II' or 'Quake,'" the Journal says, quoting analyst John Taylor Arcadia Investment Corp. in Portland, Oregon, as saying, "Games are less vulnerable to price erosion, and the upside potential of a hit is way, way bigger." Speaking of Myst, Broderbund Vice President Ken Goldstein, who is Red Orb's general manager, says a top priority will be completion of the long-awaited sequel to that game, known as "Riven." Look for it in the fall, he said. Jaguar Online STR InfoFile - Online Users Growl & Purr! The Original Gamers! By Albert Dayes In my previous article on Debabelizer PRO v4.x for Windows 95 / NT 4 there was only one service pak. Now there are 3 service paks available which can be downloaded form the web site. A demo was recently released so you can get a better feel of how the program really works. The demo is approximately 3 megabytes in size. For more info see STReport #1305 for a product preview and check out the Equilibrium web site. http://www.equilibrium.com In my examination of the web coin-op game web sites my eye has always gravitated towards Atari oriented sites. The Time-Warner web site on Pathfinder had Area51 and T-Mek coin-ops online for quite a while. Recently I discovered they had been removed. This was probably due to the sale of Atari Games (rather the entire TWI division) to Williams Entertainment which happened last year. So instinctively I typed in www.atarigames.com and a colorful web page came up on my screen. The words "the original gamers" appeared in the upper left corner and infamous Atari logo was prominently displayed. Several options are available including company history, arcade distribution, consumer titles, arcade game room, send your resume and contacting Atari Games. Of course the arcade game room was my first choice and currently featured is San Francisco RUSH : Extreme Racing. (The game basically allows you to drive anywhere you want in San Francisco at almost any speed. Nothing gives you the "Rush" like California Street at 200 mph. <grin> You can also look forward to home versions of this game by early next year under the Midway Home Entertainment label. The distributor list gives the names and addresses of current Atari Games coin-op distributors. Atari history is well known but you can find more about it under the company history section. The Frequently Asked Questions goes to great lengths to point out the Atari Games and Atari Corp. are two SEPARATE companies ... I wonder why? <grin> ... it makes interesting reading for sure. [Addendum] I just noticed today at the Atari Games web site (www.atarigames.com) that AREA 51 is back on-line. Atari Games is a subsidiary of Midway Games (www.midway.com) which part of WMS Industries (www.wms.com). The Midway Games site has information on such coin-ops as WarGods, NBA Hangtime, and Cruis'n World. It has a section for current home titles under development for the different home gaming platforms also. The best site I have found to date on Coin-op information is at Randyfromm.com. www.randyfromm.com Ranyfromm.com is the on-line home to the world's leading trade journals for the international coin-operated amusement and family entertainment center (FEC) business, including Amusement International Magazine, InterGame, Play Meter,Cash Box International and Street Beat. The yellow pages has an outstanding number of links to everything coin-op related. A good place to start when searching for coin-ops used or new. Follow this link for current information on Namco coin-ops. www.namco.com How well do you remember the Atari coin-op games from the past? http://magenta.com/~jess/ This is an amazing site which has most if not all of the Atari vector games. Not only are the logos or portions of the cabinet scanned available for viewing but also some of the enhancements, highest known serial numbers, flyers, and so forth. There is also a raster portion under development which will be a perfect compliment to the vector game page when completed. To quote from the web page ... "Hello, Welcome to my "unofficial" Atari Vector Page. You will find lots of info here if you have one of these old beasts and need some help or otherwise just want to look at the pictures. I have combined the "What's Here" and the "What's New" sections into this more streamlined and compact "What's Up" section.(Idea modeled from Phil's Arcade Emulation Page) Basically this page only covers the 13 games that Atari manufactured using vector monitors (duh!). Other Atari games that used raster type monitors are contained on The Atari Raster Game Page. The raster page is pretty weak right now but give me some time. On this page you will find Pinouts, DIP Switch Settings, Promo Flyer Scans, Monitor Schematics, Self Test info, Selected Operator's Manuals, Background History, Trivia, Other Links, Memory Maps, Serial Number info, Game Hacks, and ROM Images (not for emulator use though). Enjoy!!" This site deserves an award for the great amount of dedication, attention to detail on all Atari games. The number of links to other sites is very impressive as well. http://magenta.com/~jess/sega/vector/html/segaxy.html Is a recent one for Sega vector games in the same spirit as the Atari vector games web page. Phil's emulator page has a large number of links on it to other emulators and how to get emulators working with your PC, and so forth. It is a great place to start looking if are interested in emulators. http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~pmorrisb/index.html Other home video game sites include: Nintendo: www.nintendo.com Sega: www.sega.com Sony: www.sony.com Atari: www.atari.com This is just a small taste of what is available on the world wide web especially when it comes to video games of the coin-op variety. The best place to find out more is to point your web browser in the direction of one of these URLs and enjoy the experience. ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'! PEOPLE... ARE TALKING On CompuServe Compiled by Joe Mirando jmirando@streport.com Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, there's nothing wonderful or earth-shaking for me to tell you about this week. Except for the fact that Oregon Research Associates' TERMite PPP internet access suite of programs has been pushed back from early June to perhaps August, and that STiNG (the self-touted successor to STiK) is available but incomplete, there isn't really anything new and exciting. That leaves us with all the little things that people talk about every day. But let's under-rate the importance of the everyday question. As Frank Lloyd Wright said, "God is in the details". Well, let's take a look at some of those details from CompuServe. From the Atari Computing Forum Elizbeth Frayne posts: "I have been atempting to use CAB version 1.3 on my 520 ST with 1 Mb of RAM. My server no longer provides slip and so I need a new server or perhaps an update of this program. Would CAB 1.5 or 2 work on my system with PPP?" Joe Villarreal tells Elizabeth: "A new version of Stik will be available that supports PPP. The author is working on getting PPP working. At the moment Stik 1.12 does not support PPP. The latest demo of Webspace (Wensuite), 1.70G supposedly supports PPP. I haven't tried this version yet, but I did try version 1.70D and it supposely also supports PPP; I tried this version on a local provider but couldn't get it to work. This local provider supposely supports Slip also and so far I haven't been able to get connected using Stik and Cab either. STING (ST Internet Next Generation) will supposely work with CAB. I couldn't get this software to dial out. It claims to support Slip, Cslip, and PPP. Version 1.0 is just a beta release version." Ben at TOC Oz. posts: "I've just uploaded the on-line PPP version of the WebSpace demo. (and i think it actually worked this time !) OXO Concepts are Beta testing their PPP link and want everyone to try it out, and get some feedback. The new demo is called WenSuite, the file name is WS170F_E.LZH, I not sure if i made that apparent in the description. Please let me know if the upload bombs, and I'll do it again. ...." Donald Janney asks for help: "Can anyone tell me of a way to convert a word processor file from "Wordperfect for Atari" to "Word for Windows 95"? An alternative would be convert the Atari Wordperfect to a newer Wordperfect, e.g., Wordperfect 5.x or 6.x on a PC." Our own editor-in-chief, good ol' easy-going Ralph Mariano, tells Don: "Actually, Word Perfect programs in Win95.... ie; WP 6.0, 6.1 and 7.0 all see the Atari format as WP 4.1 and readily convert it to its newer format." Albert Dayes adds: "The easiest way to do that is download Marcel (a shareware word processor) it can convert to different file types. Load your word perfect document into and save as/export as an RTF file. Then you should be able to use it on almost any Windows word processor without any problems and should have most of the formatting still intact." While on the subject of word processors, Steven Barer posts: "I may be in the wrong place, but I just had someone ask how to get some ATARI 1040 ST files from WP to the IBM-compatible WP format... I'm not sure whether the diskette from a 1040 is readable on an IBM or not, so any suggestions would be gratefully received." Joe Meehan tells Steven: "In almost all cases it [the floppy] will be readable. There are two possible problems. First, the disk should be formatted in DOS format. Some versions of TOS would do this, I forget which ones, and of course the CodeHead utilities would do so as would Universal Item Selector. In the event you have a problem just re-format one of your Atari disks (I suggest one with nothing on it you want <grin>) on the DOS PC then copy the files on the Atari. The Atari will read a DOS formatted disk. Done use HD (High Density or SS Single Sided disk). Second some older PC drives have problems reading any disk they did not format. Most of these have gone to Intel hell and are no longer functioning. In those cases they would have difficultly reading disk from any other PC." Frank Heller adds: "Try using PC formatted DD disks to transfer the files. The Atari can read and write to PC formatted disks. In the case of a 1040, it has to be DD (720k). The Falcon can read and write on HD (1440k) disks. You should be able to get the files into the PC this way." Michael Robillard asks for help in making a decision: "I just purchased a C-LAB falcon MK1 and was wondering if I can just purchase any vga or super vga monitor off the shelf and hook it right up or do I need some type of an adaptor." Angelo Vahatoura tells Michael: "You need some type of box like Omniswitch that converts an Atari signal into a Multisync signal but unfortunatly the company is mo longer with us. You should look into getting an Atari Monitor instead." Tom Harker of ICD tells Michael: "I am not familiar with the C-Lab Mk1 case but if it is the same as the standard Atari Falcon, you just need to purchase a VGA monitor adapter. It is a standard Atari part and just a wiring adapter (no active electronics inside). The adapter has a DB19 on one end and a HD DB15 on the other which mates with a standard S-VGA monitor cable." Rob Rasmussen tells Michael: "I have the C-Lab MK-X connected with the adaptor to a standard VGA monitor." Michael asks Rob: "Where does one get this adaptor? Would you happen to know the difference between standard VGA and SUPER VGA in other words would SUPER VGA work with the adaptor you have? Are there any monitors that can be connected without an adaptor. It seems kinda of dumb to make a computer system without a monitor or the ability to purchase a monitor at the store and not have to worry about adaptors." Rob tells Michael: "If you call Toad Computers, they can probably send you the adaptor you need for a VGA or SVGA monitor. As far as I know, both of these video modes are 640 x 480 with 256 colors, so there's no difference as far as the adaptor. The vga monitor will also display the Falcon/MK-1's true color mode but only in 40 columns, and it will display mono rez, which the Atari color monitor can't. The Atari color monitor displays true color in 80 columns. Yes I know it's strange that no monitors connect directly to the MK-1 without an adaptor. I'm surprised they weren't included with your MK-1." As happens on more occasions than I care to mention, I came upon something I didn't know the answer to so I posted: "Does anyone know what the DIP switches on the stock internal Atari Host Adaptor are for? My internal HD decided to take a dirt-nap last week and, while removing it and re-seating everything inside, I noticed that the host adaptor has a block of 3 dips. I know that this isn't my hard drive's problem since it's worked fine for several years, but I'd like to know what they are for anyway. The machine is a MegaSTE with the same adaptor used in the STacy and (I think) the MegaST. BTW, the hard drive's problem is that there are now lots of bad sectors (300+ on the first 30 meg partition alone). The drive makes a grinding sound on occasion now, and I'm in the process of trying to retrieve at least some of the data on it. Any info on the DIPs would be appreciated." Carl Barron tells me: "I don't know what the dips are for, but I can feel for you I lost a 1.6 gig external [re-formatted to 700K!] for some strange reason once. Get the data off the HD as fast as possible. Sounds like its dying fast!!" I tell Carl: "YIKES! A 1.6 gig drive formatted to 700K? That musta been something to see! <grin> Kind of an expensive ds/dd disk though. About 95% of my data is corrupted with no hope of reconstruction. (Thank goodness for backups and original program disks). It seems that for a minute or so the drive decided that the sectors were all (and I do mean ALL) shifted over three places from where they actually were. This was just enough to scramble the drive up good. It now also makes that sickening 'jet engine' sound every now and then. I tried re-writing the FATs the other day and had absolutely no luck. My pal Myles Cohen adds: "I do [know what the DIPs are for]... They were used to change and/or set the SCSI address of the hard drive ..using binary code...Reember? All off=0...Right-most on=1...etc." Carl tells Myles: "That makes sense. So if there are no device id# problems, leave them alone. I am getting spoiled with all these 'plug in it works' stuff, these days." I tell Carl: "Gee, you must be using a far different system than we are at work. With our stuff, "Plug ' Play" means plug it in and play with the settings for a day and a half!" And then I ask Myles: "Are you sure about that Myles?? It was my understanding that the internal HD HAD to be SCSI 0. That's why I assumed that it must be for something else." Myles tells me: "As you know...I am not any kind of computer expert...but it has always been my understanding that address 0 has to be reserved because it is the computer's address in the SCSI chain...I could be wrong...and if I am...I'm sure that someone here will set me right... Anyway...I always assign address 1 for my root drive...it works for me..." I reply to Myles: "I've just been informed that we were both right! The hard drive itself must be set to SCSI device 0, but the DIPs control what ID it is reported to the computer as. This allows you to boot from an external hard drive if need be. Isn't it nice when it turns out that EVERYONE is right?? _That_ really ticks some folks off! <grin>" Dennis Larson asks: "Is it possible to use a SVGA monitor on a 1040ST? My monitor died, I'm not sure I want to spend $$$ to fix it. (It was manufactured by Goldstar, maybe any shop can fix it? Might just be a couple of [leaking] capacitors). I have heard that it is possible to use some kind of multisync monitor; do you need adapters, etc., to make it work? Is it worth it?" Simon Churchill tells Dennis to... "Look in the lib's for a file called VGA.TXT, written by your's trully it should answer all/most of your question." Well folks, that's about it for this week. Tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING Memorial Day - 1997 STReport International OnLine Magazine [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport HTTP://WWW.STREPORT.COM OVER 200,000 Readers WORLDWIDE All Items quoted, in whole or in part, are done so under the provisions of The Fair Use Law of The Copyright Laws of the U.S.A. Views, Opinions and Editorial Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors/staff of STReport International OnLine Magazine. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue number and the author's name. STR, CPU, STReport and/or portions therein may not be edited, used, duplicated or transmitted in any way without prior written permission. STR, CPU, STReport, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. STR, CPU, STReport, are trademarks of STReport and STR Publishing Inc. STR, CPU, STReport, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible in any way for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. STReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" May 23, 1997 Since 1987 Copyrightc1997 All Rights Reserved Issue No. 1321