Frostbyte's 1980s DOS Shareware Collection/floppyshareware.zip/floppyshareware/GLEN/READER1.ZIP/NEWS1.TXT

Text File | 1989-10-24 | 70KB | 2,771 lines

KIDS BBS STARTED BY PAUL OF PETER, PAUL AND MARY

BLUEHILL FALLS, MAINE, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 7 (NB) -- While many

new bulletin board system operators are in it for the money,

others have more idealistic motives. Paul Stookey, best known

as the middle third in the folk group Peter Paul & Mary, wants

to use his Celebration Station to change kids' lives.



The Celebration Station is a 4-line bulletin board with 326

accounts so far, all paying a quarterly subscription fee. It

uses Galacticomm Software, but Stookey plans to move to a

program called the Custom Time Slicing system put together by

Bill Schindler, a Maine entrepreneur who formerly worked for

Lotus Development.



Stookey explained to Newsbytes, "In my neighborhood, in Dorsey,

Maryland, in the early 40s, one of the neatest things you could

have was a clubhouse. Maybe you had a password, but you

certainly saw the same people, shared the same interests and

made the same discoveries. That's an electronic BBS."



Besides content which will interest young computer users, and

game players, Stookey is also working to bring more graphics

into his BBS. "The continuing stumbling block for keeping up

interest was the lack of graphics. They must come over at such

a slow baud rate." Stookey's idea is to load standard graphics

files on his users' computers, then send codes from the BBS to

trigger them.



"Our vision is to give a 3-dimensional representation to

signing onto a BBS. You arrive at a graphic space station. As

you're putting on your suit, which will be the means whereby

you control your cursor, and look through your visor, the board

parts on the side of your ship and you walk toward a robot at a

greeting station. The robot tells you who else is there, and

where. The idea is to have a reality hidden behind this front

so that you discover this is just a front door to an adventure.



"I started a young person's board because I see an opportunity

to turn a technological threat into a comfortable form of world

communication," Stookey continues. "Building a bulletin board

for kids is possible only if you enlist the cooperation of

their parents." Stookey's dream is to bring in a corporate

underwriter who can pick up most of the telecommunications

costs so that one day he can offer kids toll-free access to

educational games.



In case you were wondering how the rest of PP&M is doing with

computers, Mary has a Tandy 102 and has written some opinion

articles with it, and their road manager has a Mac in the

office. As for Peter, author of their big hit, "Puff the Magic

Dragon" -- "he's the Luddite of the group."


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890908/Press Contact: Paul Stookey, BBS:

207- 374-2203)




THE STATE OF THE FIDO IS HEALTHY BUT TROUBLED

ONLINE, PLANET EARTH, 1989 SEP 6 (NB) -- The state of the Fido

bulletin board movement is healthy, but troubled. Thom

Henderson, president of System Enhancement Associates, makers

of the ARC file compression utility, is the new chairman of the

International FidoNet Association, a coordinating organization

for the bulletin board message porting system. He recently gave

Newsbytes a state-of-the-Fido address.



Between 100-150 system operators showed up at the annual Fido

conference in San Jose last month, a little down from the year

before. That's out of about 6,000 system operators worldwide.

Henderson admits, "The guy in charge of coordinating the list

lives in Australia. It's like the story of the dancing bear --

what's amazing is not how it dances, but that it dances at

all."



Turnover remains high, with the investment of thousands of

dollars to put up a BBS, the continuing investment of hundreds

of hours to stay in, and the meager returns in appreciation and

money. Henderson figures only two system operators are making a

handsome living off their boards -- the Sound of Music in New

York, and Bob Mahoney's Exec-PC in Shoreham, Wisconsin, which

Henderson says is now "about the size of BIX (Byte Information

Exchange)."



Most Fido Sysops are still located in North America, but there

are hundreds in Europe, and Australia is coming on strong. "We

have some in Africa and a few starting in South America. You

wouldn't believe their problems. They say it only costs $2,000

and takes 3 years go put in a phone line. It used to take 30

years. I understand they're into ham and packet radio. I'm not

sure why they want them, given the troubles they face. They're

talking horrendous phone rates and lousy line quality. I wonder

why they don't just go ham radio."



Fido is also facing a growing split between amateurs who want

the boards to remain amateurs and a growing number of

professional and semi-pro sysops. "At the moment it's all

volunteer." Fidonet collects no dues, only donations. It would

like to talk to corporate sponsors, and it's listed as a tax-

exempt organization under Section 50l C 3 of the tax code.



"It looks to me like the growth has tapered off," Henderson

says, despite improving technology. "Over the last 6 months

we've added 4-500 systems net. A year ago, if I were looking at

this, I would have said we'd added 1,000." Most are single-line

boards running Opus or Quick BBS, which are shareware programs.

"I would characterize the typical Fidonet sysop as being a

middle-aged professional, not necessarily in computers, who as

a hobby has an XT or AT class machine running a single line

with Opus and Quick BBS.



"The image of sysops being teenage hackers with an Atari is not

typical," he concludes. "The typical sysop must afford a phone

line, and a machine he can leave in the corner. Even among the

users, we must get half bank vice presidents and financial

analysts calling our board.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890908/Press Contact: Thom Henderson, Fido,

ph. 201-473-5153; bbs. 201-473-1991)

GOVT SEEKS HELP TO SMASH VIRUSES

GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 7 (NB) -- The National

Institute of Standards and Technology, which was grudgingly

given control of the war against commercial viruses a few years

ago, is actively looking for help from industry to fight the

battle.



Dennis Steinauer, manager of the computer security management

group at the NIST headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is

hoping that separate centers can be established, with industry

help, to coordinate information on bugs in PCs, Macintoshes,

Unix machines, and mainframes. In meetings so far, "Cooperation

has been very good." Right now, Macintosh computers are

suffering the most frequent outbreaks, he says.



"There's no silver bullet," he adds, no magic solution to the

virus problem, "and there is unlikely to be one which doesn't

kill the patient. That's the fundamental nature of the problem.

A virus takes advantage of privileges a programmer or program

needs to have, in many cases. In order to reduce or eliminate

the ability of the virus to spread, you hamper what a user can

do. That's usually unacceptable to the user." The answer "boils

down to looking at tools, techniques and procedures the user

can either do for himself or someone can do for him that will

reduce the likelihood he has contaminated software." Virus

control should become a standard feature of the PC user's day,

like hard disk back-up.



Steinauer adds, "It makes sense to set up a support group in

the information center whose job it is to say this is OK, or

this isn't. That follows along the same paradigm of the

information center in general, so that you set up an

organization to decide which spreadsheet to use."

Steinauer calls his proposed coordination units Computer

Security Response Centers. "We had a very good workshop on the

problems about a month ago, and we're trying to get the

proceedings together."


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890908/Press Contact: Dennis Steinauer,

NIST, 301-975-3357)


SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA INTRODUCES SATELLITE MODEM

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 28 (NB) -- Scientific-

Atlanta announced the Model 4580 broadcast modem for use in

data broadcasts via satellites. The 4580 sits between a Very

Small Aperture Terminal earth station, usually just 1.8 meters

in diameter, and a host computer. It can accept and

double-check data at speeds of up to 1.544 million bytes per

second, called T- 1 speeds.



Steven P. Nowick, president of the Private Networks Business

Division at Scientific-Atlanta, says data broadcasting by

satellite can cost 10-15 percent less than a comparable fiber

optic cable. Plus, data can be broadcast once for many

different receivers, which makes it an ideal solution for

newspaper publishers. The Associated Press is presently using

the company's equipment to transmit its news feeds, while the

Chicago Tribune uses it to send its newspaper to printing

plants across the State of Illinois. An advantage of the S-A

scheme is that it runs under X.25, making it compatible with

existing landline networks.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890901/Press Contact: Randall Blevens,

Scientific-Atlanta, 404-441-4618)

JAPAN: PLAY GAMES ON ISDN

TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 AUG 25 (NB) -- Personal computer

communication service venture NIF will start a game service

which exploits the power of ISDN (integrated services digital

network) as early as December of this year.



NIF says people in remote areas will be able to play games

simultaneously, enjoying unprecedented sound and image

reproduction using personal computers and telephones. Combined

with software from its affiliate in the U.S., Compuserve, NIF

is considering the game mahjong, and multiplayer games 40 to 50

in which 40-50 people can take part, as the first offerings of

the new service.


Initial charges will be high, which is why NIF intends to offer

the games for adults, not for children.

(Ken Takahashi/19890831)



GALACTICOMM BOARDS MAKE TALK CHEAP

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 1 (NB) -- Tim

Stryker's Galacticomm Inc. is changing the face of the computer

bulletin board movement. Besides selling software, he sells

communication boards which can put anyone at the wheel of a 16-

node board for well under $10,000. While Stryker says 80

percent of his customers are creating private boards --

customers include the U.S. Army and Drug Enforcement

Administration -- public Galacticomm boards are proliferating.



Newsbytes interviewed over a dozen multiport Galacticomm system

operators over the last week. They hope to make a profit from

their systems, and say they are already making back their

costs, sometimes in as little as 6 months. Most charge users

40-60 cents per hour to use their boards, rather than the

yearly subscription fees requested by older boards, and they

take credit cards.



What's most remarkable, however, is where they make their

money. Instead of trading software, Galacticomm users are

trading ideas in an area Stryker calls "teleconferencing" and

experienced users will recognize as a live chat system. The

sysop of the Bayline BBS in Brooklyn, New York told Newsbytes

on most evenings he has 15 or more people chatting on his

board, and they talk about anything. Once, someone dialed

Bayline and said they were about to commit suicide -- other

users talked him down and intervened.



Galacticomm system operators say they win their business from

CompuServe, which charges $12 per hour for its CB Simulator.

Multi- player games are also a regular feature of Galacticomm

boards, with poker and roulette being among the most popular.

Galacticomm software also offers home shopping, and many system

operators say they're looking for stores to fill their

"electronic malls."

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890901)

NEW VIDEOTEX SERVICE PLANNED

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 AUG 14 -- Public Technology,

Inc. (PTI) and the Videotex Industry Association (VIA) plan to

inaugurate the Local Government Videotex Research and

Demonstration Project, a different way of providing the public

with access to more than 70 categories of government

information and services.



PTI, an association of local governments dedicated to improving

services and efficiency via technology and management systems,

is the nonprofit research and development arm of the National

League of Cities and the International City Management

Association. The VIA, the only nonprofit association in North

America solely developing easy-to-use interactive electronic

services for home, office, and public access use, is located at

1901 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 200, Rosslyn, Virginia 22209.


(John McCormick/19890822/Press Contact: Francie Gilman, PTI,

202- 626-2432, and Bob Smith, VIA, 703-522-0883)



ATLANTA BANK DROPS PRODIGY

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 21 (NB) -- Prodigy, the

IBM-Sears joint venture in videotex, is in trouble with one of

its first trial markets. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

reported August 19 that the C&S Bank has been regularly writing

paper checks for Prodigy customers, not always making

Electronic Funds Transfers as customers thought. While large

merchants with electronic payment systems can easily get online

payments, small merchants without the codes need to be

contacted through their banks, or given paper. As a result,

many people suffered from late Prodigy payments to merchants,

after paying $5 on top of their $10 monthly fees for the

banking service.



On August 21, C&S announced it would drop the Prodigy project,

called HomEc, next month. Sources speculate Prodigy was dropped

after a major booster within the bank left to take a job in

California. This comes just as Prodigy is preparing a major

marketing push for the project -- in fact, C&S had agreed to be

part of that push just weeks before dropping the service.



The whole incident does not help Prodigy which is struggling to

gain a wider audience. Prodigy claims to have 75,000 members

nationwide but criticism of the system is coming from

experienced online users who complain about the system's slow

speed and its inability to offer file uploading or downloading.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890829/Press Contact: Brian Ek, Prodigy,

914- 993-8843)


GENIE STARTS JAPAN ROUNDTABLE WITH PC-VAN

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 23 (NB) -- The GEnie

service, in conjunction with NEC's PC-VAN service in Japan, has

announced the addition of the Japan RoundTable so subscribers

of both services can learn about each other.



According to Japan RoundTable System Operators Manabu Tokunaga

and Wendy Nelson: "The Japan RoundTable is the place where

GEnie users can meet people to talk about living in Japan and

the Japanese culture. This is a RoundTable for everyone to be

electronically united, whether you live in the heartlands of

America or Canada, or in the middle of Hokkaido, Japan."



The Japan RT, like all GEnie RoundTables, offers a bulletin

board capability for posting and reading messages by

categories, a real-time conference capability for online

discussions, and software libraries where users can download

public domain software related to the subject of the RT. It

also offers an area for the latest news related to the Japan

RoundTable.



Although GEnie is the largest system to offer a cross-cultural

online exchange tool with Japan, it is not the only one. A

Japanese bulletin board called TWICS, in conjunction with the

Dasnet porting service, has been running a "Japan Talk"

conference with U.S. services Cignet of Seattle, the Meta

Network of Japan, and NWI in East Hartford, Connecticut for

over a year. The "Japan Talk" conference has generated almost

1,000 notes and much praise for its sponsors, indicating an

active, mutual interest between residents on each side of the

Pacific.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890829/Press Contact: Steve Haracznak,

GEnie, 301-340-4494)


RESEARCHERS PREDICT 10X ONLINE GROWTH

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 23 (NB) -- The New York

research firm of Frost & Sullivan predicts the U.S. online

market will grow 10-fold in the next five years, reaching over

8 million people and approaching the $1 billion revenue mark.



But the projections, made in a study called Mass Videotex

Systems Market in the United States, are far below earlier

projections, despite the entry of IBM and the Bell companies

into the online derby. The entire industry is expected to have

revenue of just $130 million in 1989.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890829/Press Contact: Susan Core, Frost &

Sullivan, 212-233-1080)



DATA BROADCASTING TAKES OFF

NORCROSS, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 25 (NB) --

Scientific-Atlanta is one of five companies now offering data

broadcasting along with audio and video service. The business

is starting to take off as the equipment used for data

broadcasts becomes more efficient and lower in price.



Scientific-Atlanta competes in this market with General Motors'

Hughes Communications, AT&T's Tridom subsidiary, GTE Spacenet

and Contel's Equatorial Services. The major features it claims

are that its data broadcasts run under the same X.25 standards

used in land-line networks, and its equipment can adjust data

bandwidths automatically.



Steve Nowick of Scientific told Newsbytes data broadcasting is

ideal for engineers who must send schematics, for transactions

processors sending hot card files, or for any application where

a lot of data must be moved to a lot of places at once.

Scientific claims "99.97 percent" reliability for its data

broadcasts.

Recent problems with undersea fiber cables could speed the move

to satellites. The TPC-3 cable between the U.S. and Japan was

down for a month recently after a repeater went out 18,000 feet

underwater. The TAT-8 cable to France has been out of action

three times after fishermen disconnected it with their nets.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890829/Press Contact: John Russell,

Scientific-Atlanta, 404-925-6219)


PHONE USERS FIGHTING BELL DEREGULATION

WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 1989 AUG 21 (NB) -- Major corporate

phone users have formed the Telecommunications Users for

Regulatory Fairness, or TURF, to fight plans by the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission to lift profit limits on the

Bell Companies and replace them with price caps.



The TURF members say this will cost consumers $4.1 billion over

the next four years. They charge the FCC will let phone costs

rise five percent per year without review under the price cap

plan. They further claim productivity improvement estimates by

the FCC of 2.5 percent per year are too low, and that 6-7

percent is more likely.



The TURF arguments could be buttressed by the recent success of

Bell companies in maintaining their networks despite strikes

which continued at three companies at this writing -- Bell

Atlantic, NYNEX, and Ameritech. The success of the networks

indicates that costs will be falling, perhaps faster than the

regulators are willing to admit. If costs fall faster than

prices, profits for the Bells will skyrocket at the expense of

users. In that event, trends toward bypassing the phone

networks by big companies will accelerate, and phone bills for

small users will go up.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890829)



NON-PROFIT EC DATABASES PREDOMINATE

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 AUG 26 (NB) -- EC non-profit databases

predominate commercial ones, according to a study reported in

Information Market, an EC newsletter on technology.


Production of databases is dominated by the US, which holds 57

percent of the total while the EC holds only 27 percent. The

growth rate in the EC is better at 16 percent against the US's

13 percent.


32 percent of the databases originate in the United Kingdom, 18

percent in West Germany, 14 percent in France, 11 percent in

Italy, 10 percent in Spain with the remainder spread over the

remaining countries, says the report.


US databases are end-user oriented while European databases are

designed for bibliographical and referral usage, no doubt a

result of the US, market-oriented economy.


(Peter Vekinis/19890826)


MICROLINK/DIALCOM ROW BREWING

MACCLESFIELD, ENGLAND, 1989 AUG 25 (NB) -- In the run-up to its

transfer from Dialcom to Istel's I-Net system, Microlink has

become incensed at what it sees are Dialcom's attempts to poach

its subscribers back to the Telecom Gold electronic mail

network.



Last week saw Telecom Gold 'junk mail' subscribers on the

Microlink network with a telex message suggesting that they

contact Dialcom to establish a Telecom Gold mailbox on the

Dialcom network.



"The point is that our subscriber lists are confidential. Gold

has always threatened anyone on its system that they will be

thrown off if they junk mail other subscribers. Now they've

gone and sent junk mail themselves," said Microlink's managing

director, Derek Meakin.



Meakin is sufficiently annoyed by the junk mailing that he has

written to Oftel, the UK telecoms regulatory watch-dog, to

complain of Dialcom's actions. According to Oftel, such a move

appears to constitute a breach of British Telecom's own

competitive marketing guidelines, a statement from Microlink

said late last week.



Talking with Newsbytes, Meakin said that the annoyance was that

Microlink subscribers have to pay to read the junk mail. "It

may not be much, but it's the principal of the matter," he

said.



Representatives of Dialcom UK were unavailable for comment at

Newsbytes went to press.

(Steve Gold/19890825/Press & Public Contact: Derek Meakin,

managing director, Microlink - Tel: [phone])



MOST U.S. BBS'S ARE PRIVATE

DAVIE, FLORIDA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 18 (NB) -- Four out of five

bulletin board systems in the U.S. are private, not public, yet

the public boards alone carry four to five times more traffic

than is carried by public systems such as Compuserve and GEnie.

These are the experienced observations of Tim Stryker, whose

Gallacticom makes Major BBS, a multiline bulletin board package

which has been winning stunning reviews lately.



Because most BBS systems are private, Stryker says, security is

an issue for people who buy his software. Small boards succeed

with the mass market for the same reason small business does,

he adds. "There are so many BBSs, and being individually run

they can specialize more easily than Compuserve or GEnie. We've

found the quickest way to get something out is just post it on

a few boards. The average user finds five boards of interest,

and posts between them." Stryker has even found out about

third-party add- ons to his own product second-hand, through

BBS systems. "We get calls regularly where I find out from

customers about new products," he told Newsbytes.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890818/Press Contact: Tim Stryker,

Gallacticomm, 305-583-7846



SYSTEM ONE SIGNS ON TOUR NETWORK

HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 16 (NB) -- Texas Air's System

One system will gain complete access to World ComNet Inc.'s

Tourinc tour display and reservation system. Over 80 major tour

operators have already contracted to feature their tours on the

Tourinc system, which automatically calculates rates, costs on

options, discounts, surcharges and other variables. The Tourinc

system will be used to lure travel agents away from market

leaders Sabre and Covia.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890818/Press Contact: Ronald L. Baldwin,

WCN Investment, 604-669-6083)



NINTENDO ANNOUNCES ONLINE NETWORK

REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 9 (NB) -- Nintendo of

America will launch a games-oriented online network next year

in the U.S. The Japanese giant, based in Kyoto, Japan, has sold

30 million of its Famicom game machines, and already offers a

successful online service in its home country.



Nintendo has hired Jerry Ruttenbur, formerly of Home Box

Office, Atari [when it was owned by Warner Communications] and

Microsoft, as well as the old Koala Systems touchpad company,

to spearhead the project. He'll start work in October.



A spokesman for the company said that regardless of what AT&T

decides to do, and it was rumored to be going into the Nintendo

online business, his company has plenty of options. "We've

already received strong interest from major players in

corporate America. People who already have products and want to

put them on Nintendo, others interested in joint-ventures.

We're exploring them all."



Nintendo of America President Minoru Arakawa called the hiring

of Ruttenbur "a formal commitment" to deliver an interactive

entertainment and information network to the marketplace in

1990. "By year-end, more than 20 million U.S. households will

have the Nintendo system, and in 1990 each of these households

will have access to the NES Network."


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Richard Lindner,

Hill and Knowlton, 213-937-7460)



MINITEL ONLINE TO ITALY

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Through a

tie-in with la Nouvel Observateur, the largest information

provider on the Minitel System, and the Italian phone company,

SIP, Americans and their Italian cousins can now keep in touch

no matter how bad the phone lines.



Newcom Link of New York now offers direct connections to Italy

at 17 cents per minute, says spokesman Kathleen Dooley. SIP has

promised to rent up to 300,000 Minitel terminals for just $6

per month, and the terminals will also be able to reach France

and other Minitel destinations. "This enables the Italians to

get online just as the French do. They write in Italian,

although theyUre more likely to know French and English than

Americans are to know Italian."



Newsbytes also interviewed Phillippe Perron, Newcom vice

president, "This went online four weeks ago," he said, and

response has been "overwhelming." There is already an existing

base of terminals, about 50,000. There's an Italian system

called Videotel, run by the Italian PTT, and we've connected to

it, so we can give them access to Paris, then to New York.

We've had some encouraging remarks in America from this. Even

during real time dialogue through terminals it can be

cost-effective -- one- tenth the price of a phone call. And

it's easier to connect with than with a phone." A marketing

campaign for the Italian connection is planned in New York's

Italian neighborhoods this fall.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Kathleen Dooley,

Newcom Link, 212-832-8311)



MAXWELL HINTS AT DATABASE PRICE WAR

MCLEAN, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Maxwell Online,

the British owner of Orbit, Pergamon, BRS, and the Official

Airline Guide, is beginning to hint at an online database price

war through its Orbit facility.



A cryptic release on Orbit's newest service, SciSearch,

carefully notes that its $145 connect hour rate "is

substantially lower than some other host services." That last

is a dig aimed squarely at Dialog, a spokesman acknowledged.

SciSearch is created by ISI in Middlesex, in the United

Kingdom. SciSearch is also online through DataStar of Wayne,

Pennsylvania and Dimdi, a German system.



SciSearch, which came online with Orbit August 1, is the

world's most popular citation index, with 9 million records

from 4,500 journals and 14,000 new records added per week.

Maxwell also trumpets the "get" command it has added to

SciSearch, which lets you perform online statistical analyses,

finding out which authors are most prolific in an area, which

organizations are most active in a given area of research, or

balance of countries researching a particular area.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/ Press Contact: Kim Briggs, Orbit,

703-442-0900)


GENIE ADDS ROUNDTABLE ON ITSELF

ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 3 (NB) -- GEnie, the

number two consumer online service, has added a Roundtable

about itself called GEnieus. It's managed by Mark Hiatt, who is

not a GEnie employee. GEnieus will feature tips on using GEnie,

an online manual, a phone access list, and a bulletin board on

which users can talk back to the system.



"If there is something you like about the GEnie service and you

want someone to know about it, this is the place to do it,"

said Hiatt. "Likewise, if you don't like something and want to

blow off some steam, we're here to listen to that, too. And if

you have an idea for something you would like to see on GEnie,

there's even a place for that."


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890811/Press Contact: Steve Harasznak,

GEnie, 301-340-2294)


ISDN FOR THE PC

RICHARDSON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 7 (NB) -- For PC users who

want ISDN (integrated services digital network) capability,

Vadis, Inc., has PC[2], a board/software package that provides

full 144K bit per second connectivity through all three ISDN

channels.



As is common to most PC ISDN products, this package is only

compatible with AT&T's 5ESS central office computer switch. It

uses a coprocessor for simultaneous voice and data and TSR

software on top of DOS. Memory requirements are 242 kilobytes

with standard RAM.



The package features seven applications including an optional

Screen Share package to enable two people to simultaneously

work on the same PC application from different locations.



The Voice Call Manager helps users place a voice call to anyone

on the PC's phone list database while the Data Call Manager

assists in sending a data only call to another ISDN device.

There is an E-Mail function included.


PC[2] sells for $1,180. Screen Share costs an additional $125.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890811/Press Contact: Vadis, 214-690-2481)


COMPUTERS: CREATE OR DESTROY FREEDOM - EDITORIAL

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 5 (NB) -- Computers are

marvelously creative tools. They can create art, they can

communicate, they can help us learn faster than ever before.

They're tools which can help man get to the stars and save this

planet while making our lives easier and more fulfilling.



But computers can also be tools of the state. Anyone who has

witnessed events in China the last few months cannot question

that. Databases and TV feeds can be combed for traitors or

other enemies with ruthless efficiency. Imagine if that Chinese

government had access to the credit networks, police networks,

and payment networks that American private businesses operate

routinely. Computers can make your life an open book before any

police agency, even the most benign.



Comes now word from Australia that its Tax Office, National

Crime Authority, and federal and state police forces will all

have access to computerized transaction records in an effort to

trace criminals through their bank accounts. Banks, for now,

will have to decide which transactions were suspicious and

worth reporting, writes Gavin Atkins for Newsbytes. Officials

there say the American system of tracing bank records is

"totally inundated with paper" and doesn't work.



You can expect American police agencies to demand computer

access to private transaction records Real Soon Now. Once past

the objections of the American Civil Liberties Union, now

routinely dismissed in Washington, such access can be easily

set up. At that point, with access to all your bank and credit

card transactions, the lives of all Americans can be sifted and

profiled in fine detail, then cut off instantly when the

computer decides someone is a suspect.



The world has not yet experienced a Police State founded on the

full power of computers, because past despots have all been

computer-illiterate. Right now there's nothing to stop your

government from becoming the first. All those who want to make

your life an open book have to do is say the magic word, and

anyone who complains will be labelled "soft on drugs" in a

heartbeat.



I hear what you're saying. We have a good cause, theirs is bad.

But every system sometimes has bad leaders, and what has

protected this system in the past has been what its

Constitution forbids. Computers offer us all a new source of

power. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890801)


FREE SPEECH IN DANGER - EDITORIAL

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 JUL 7 (NB) -- EDITORIAL. One

man's erotica is another man's filth. Some people find

afternoon soap operas arousing, others prefer pictures of naked

people, still others are moved only by the Song of Solomon in

the Bible.



People may admit what they like is indecent, but they're quick

to label what others like pornography. The Supreme Court has

long said the latter is not protected by the First Amendment

(despite the plain language of that amendment) but has been

unable to set a line between indecency and pornography beyond

Justice Potter Stewart's famous aphorism "I know it when I see

it." The one definition which does exist is indecently, perhaps

obscenely, vague.



Battles which once raged over books, magazines and movies are

now moving to phone lines and data networks. The prudes have

willing allies in the Bell Operating Companies. Since they're

regulated on many levels, the Bells are highly subject to

political pressures. Southwestern Bell screens all messages on

its SourceLink gateway. Bell Atlantic automatically blocks all

chat lines, and BellSouth makes all information providers sign

a statement giving it the right to censor. Despite a 9-0

Supreme Court ruling that bans on indecent phone services are

unconstitutional, the Bells will likely keep their restrictive

policies. Judge Harold Greene has ruled it's not discriminatory

for them to refuse to bill for what the Bells call

"dial-a-porn" or even for chat calls.



Audiotex services delivered to touch-tone phones have been the

primary battleground here because such services have proven

popular with consumers, despite their high price. Teenagers

have run up bills of thousands of dollars a month calling

phone-sex services, and parents don't want to pay. It's only a

matter of time, and customer acceptance, before such battles

move to the medium you're now reading.



Censorship, of course, is increasing in all fields. Movie

stores refuse to stock "The Last Temptation of Christ."

Advertisers refuse to run ads on "Oprah" and "Geraldo." Parents

prevent libraries from giving teenagers the works of Judy Blume

and others. Even rock music is about to get an informal code of

lyrical conduct, and one Georgia town is threatening to put

promoters in jail if musicians act "lewdly."



But open inquiry is the lifeblood of a free society. Any

attempt to choke it off, for whatever reason, diminishes us

all, and threatens our leadership of what we like to call the

"Free World." Phone companies, in their role as gatekeepers for

the information age, have become part of the problem. Their

attempts to provide the general public with data gateway

services will fail as long as they fight the First Amendment.

If you don't believe in freedom, Bells, don't become publishers

-- it's a conflict of interest.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890707)



Review of: JOURNALPHONE, an audiotex service

Runs on: touchtone phones in the Atlanta area

From: The Wall Street Journal, P.O. Box 300, Princeton, NJ

08543


Price: Free to selected Journal subscribers.

PUMA Rating: 1 (on a scale of 1 to 4, 4 being highest)

Reviewed by: Dana Blankenhorn, 5/19/89

Summary: JournalPhone is a news service delivered to touchtone

phones.


REVIEW

------

"The Wall Street Journal," looking for new ways to sell us

news, now wants to put it in our telephones with JournalPhone,

an audiotex service it's test-marketing in Atlanta to selected

newspaper subscribers.



To use it, you dial a local number -- 404-365-4949 -- and enter

numbers from your touch-tone phone corresponding to different

types of news. We tried the Atlanta Corporate Report, from the

paper's own Dowphone service, and found one longish (2 minute)

story on it -- a day-old report on troubles with the American-

Delta sponsored Sabre merger, totally lacking in background and

overwritten. We tried the World News Report and got a

one-minute summary of the Chinese student demonstrators'

battle. Again, JournalPhone was way behind the story, and

didn't have news easily found on TV about a crackdown against

the protestors and the resignation of Premier Zhao Ziyang.



The heart of the service should be its Stockquote Hotline,

which can give you current sales prices of any stock you want

to know about. Unfortunately, trying to compress 26 letters

onto a 10-key pad is hopelessly muddled -- you need a

two-letter code to enter any letter, so the symbol for

Coca-Cola, which trades under KO, comes out as 5263. Not easy

to memorize. Or local computer services firm National Data,

which trades under NDTA, becomes 62318121 with StockPhone --

and don't forget the * key when you're done.



Generally, JournalPhone needs work. Fortunately, Dow-Jones has

money to work with it.

PUMA RATING

-----------

PERFORMANCE: 1. Slow and cumbersome.


USEFULNESS: 1. Unless you have just a few stocks to follow.


MANUAL: 4. It's a two-page set of codes, so the service really

is easy to use.


AVAILABILITY:1. Limited to selected "Wall Street Journal"

subscribers in Atlanta. May be rolled-out nationwide.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890519/Press Contact: Dorothea Coccoli

Palsho, The Wall Street Journal, P.O. Box 300, Princeton, NJ

08543)

NEW TECHNIQUE INCREASES FLOPPY MEMORY

TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 AUG 28 (NB) -- Major magnetic materials and

electronic goods maker Tokin Corporation has developed and

shipped a vertical magnetic storage system which enables a

floppy disk to store several times more data than current

technology allows.



Tokin employs cobalt chrome for the magnetic body and a

magnetic head, which does not overburden the disk surface.



The new vertical magnetic storage system enables the special

2-inch floppy disk structured with double stratum to store

3-megabytes of data, three times that of current disks. With

the truck density higher, the storage capacity will get even

larger, the company claims. As for endurance, it is more than

equivalent to current products, so it is highly practical.



This technology can be applied to a 3.5-inch floppy disk,

providing it with up to 50 megabytes of storage capacity -- a

30 to 50-fold improvement over current disk storage, according

to Tokin officers.



Tokin is planning to make a prototype of the 2-inch floppy disk

in its Tsukuba research center, and ship samples soon. When

demand builds, Tokin will establish a volume production

facility in its Tokin Shiraishi factory, in Miyagi. Tokin

promises to set the disk price at 20 to 30 percent more than

current blank media, each one selling for about 1,000 yen or

$7.1.


(Ken Takahashi/19890831/Press Contact: Tokin Corporation,

03-402-6161)


TOO MUCH TECHNOLOGY? - EDITORIAL by John McCormick

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 25 (NB) -- Technology

is not only good, it is wonderful; without it I would still be

repairing bulldozers instead of making a living leaning back in

a recliner with a keyboard in my lap, so understand from the

start that I am not a neo-Luddite by any means.



But, my enthusiasm for technology does not force me to turn a

blind eye on those many places where technology is not

appropriate or, at least, hasn't yet reached the stage where it

is an unmixed blessing.



First, take barcodes; now, I happen to be a contributing editor

to a barcode publication and personally I like those little

symbols that always remind me of a two-tone caterpillar, but I

remember the old days of 20 years ago when I lived in the wilds

of Central Pennsylvania and the supermarkets hadn't gotten

laser scanners installed at the checkouts.



In those days we had clerks whose fingers flew across the

cash-register's keyboard, inputting prices so fast that there

was a separate bagger at each station just to keep up with

(usually) her.



Now I get in a line at the local Giant or Safeway supermarket

here in high-tech Northern Virginia and I know that if there is

one person ahead of me I am due for at least a 10-minute wait

before I get back to the parking lot, and most of it is due to

the time it takes to scan and rescan the UPCs -- the universal

product codes or barcodes on the packages.



I realize that having a complete networked system where every

price is looked up at the register and inventories are

constantly updated is great for the management, but what it

means to customers is that half the time we can't figure out

the prices on the items we want to buy, and most of the time we

are treated to longer waits at checkout than in the old days.



Another example of this was forced upon me at the local Radio

Shack the other day.



Tandy Corp (Radio Shack), in case you didn't know, is in the

throws of installing point-of-sales computers in all its retail

stores, and the local store was now online.



I was buying an 89-cent battery which the computer said was now

$149 or $1.49, I'm not sure which, but the clerk (a friend of

mine by the way, though he was doing the same for all the

customers) changed it back to the posted price.



So far, so good, but now came the time to print up the receipt,

a job that formerly took about 10 seconds because I never gave

my name more than about once every 20 purchases.



With the new system you tell the clerk the last four digits of

your phone number and the computer is supposed to pull up all

sorts of information about you, though why this is needed when

I was paying cash for an 89-cent battery is anyone's guess.



Of course the system didn't work and, as a line was building,

the helpless clerk was battling away with the computer, trying

to find a way to take my 89 cents.



I finally got out with the battery and a receipt about five

minutes later, leaving behind a line of other customers and a

clerk who was probably thinking of going down the sidewalk to

Domino's to look for a less high-tech job!



Don't get me wrong; I like Tandy computers and go into a Radio

Shack store about twice a week, but that computer system is

enough to cause me to turn to mail order for some parts.



My point here is that while computers are marvelous tools and

toys, wonderfully enhancing our lives, we should always

remember that when a company computerizes, sometimes it really

isn't for its customers' benefit.



If you don't believe me, just try calling some business with a

fancy voice mail system or call transfer set-up.



IBM has one and it seems to work flawlessly, but most others

tend to hang up on me two or three times before I finally get

through to a human being, something that is more than just

annoying when the call costs $2 each time.



So remember that computerized or electronic isn't synonymous

with better -- sometimes it is, but often it isn't; just try

hanging up on a computer telemarketer sometime.

(John McCormick/19890822)



PEOPLE MORE HONEST WITH COMPUTERS

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 11 (NB) -- Job seekers

interviewed by computers are more honest than when they're

interviewed by people, according to Dr. Dennis Nagao of the

Georgia Institute of Technology school of management. "We got a

lot of exaggeration, but the exaggeration was much stronger in

face-to-face situations than in the computerized or the paper-

and-pencil situations," he explained. "The non-social interview

conditions resulted in more honest responding."



The computer may induce other reactions, including one Nagao

calls the "big brother effect," which he put this way. "Most

people do not want to be in a situation of being caught in a

lie."



But there's a downside, he added. People resent computerized

interviews, especially for management positions. The results of

Nagao's research are to be found in the Journal of Applied

Psychology.



(Dana Blankenhorn/19890818/Press Contact: John Toon, Georgia

Tech, 404-894-3444)


CANADA: PCS GROW FASTEST

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 AUG 17 (NB) -- Personal

computers are practical substitutes for minis and mainframes in

more and more applications. That's one likely reason why that

sector of the Canadian computer industry is growing faster than

any other, according to a recent study by International Data

Corporation, Canada.



IDC said the Canadian PC market grew 19.1 percent to C$1,990

million in 1988, far outrunning what it defines as small-scale

systems -- those supporting two to 16 users -- grew 6.2 percent

to C$595 million. The medium-scale systems market -- defined as

17- to 128-user machines -- grew 5.9 percent to C$1,184

million, while the mainframe market actually shrank by 1.6

percent to C$1,199 million. This was not the first drop in the

mainframe market, said IDC Canada analyst Debbie Currey. It

shrank 1.2 percent in 1986, then recovered with 1.9-percent

growth in 1987.



All this added up to overall growth of 8.7 percent in the

computer hardware business. IDC also reported nine percent

growth in the packaged software and services business.



The strength of the PC was evident in IDC's listing of leading

companies. The top growth performer was SHL Systemhouse, a

system integrator which also owns ComputerLand Canada, with

93-percent growth to C$119 million in revenues. Next were

Compaq Canada Ltd., whose revenues grew 60.6 percent to C$123

million, and Apple Canada, whose revenues grew 53.9 percent to

C$274 million.



IBM Canada, though it placed several spots down the list in

percentage growth with 19 percent, headed the list by revenue,

as always, with C$3.508 billion. Northern Telecom placed second

(the IDC survey includes communications equipment as well as

computers) with C$2.978 billion in revenues and a 4.9-percent

growth rate. Next came Digital Equipment with 24.9-percent

growth to C$964 million in revenues, followed by Unisys Canada

and Apple Canada. All figures are IDC estimates.


(Grant Buckler/19890817/Press Contact: Debbie Currey, IDC

Canada, 416-369-0033)



A MILLION PCs DOWN UNDER

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 1989 AUG 14 (NB) -- Almost one million

Australian households -- 16 percent of all homes -- have a

personal computer, according to a prominent Australian market

research organization.



The Roy Morgan Research Center surveyed 4574 households

nationwide and found that households with school-aged children

are three times more likely to have a PC than households

without children.



They found that the leading brand in personal computers for the

home is Commodore which was owned by 42 percent of

computer-owning respondents, nine percent had an Apple

Macintosh, and eight percent had an Amstrad. No other brands

had a share of more than five percent.



Commodore's market lead is largely in the lower-priced home

computer market (less than AUS$1000) where it has a clear

majority. At the higher end of the market (AUS$2000 plus) Apple

Macintosh and IBM or IBM clones are just ahead of Commodore.

The survey also found that households are increasingly buying

more expensive PCs, despite generally decreasing prices.


(Gavin Atkins/19890816/Press Contact: David Jones, Roy Morgan

Research, 61-2-2618512)



INFORMATION PROS GETTING AXED

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 AUG 10 (NB) -- When a company

merges, cuts costs, updates its computer system, and acquires

computer-savvy executives, the first to generally get axed are

information services professionals.



That's the finding of InfoTrack, a New York-based corporate

executive placement service.



InfoTrack's president, Bert Upson, says, "The IS (information

services) function has always had to bear its share of staff

reductions, but since last year the numbers of both senior and

middle-level information services executives being outplaced

have nearly doubled."



The matter is made worse by this group's frequent tendency to

have "inadequate communications skills," and suffer the pitfall

of being wholly wrapped up in the technology and fail to think

like business managers, says Upson's report.



On the upside, the IS professional could come in handy in

start-up firms, consulting organizations and corporations. But

the bottom line, implies the study, is that as managers learn

how to access information themselves and the technology becomes

simpler to use, the information- seeker at a company will

become an increasingly vanishing breed.


(Wendy Woods/19890810/Press Contact: Robert Weinstein,

Infotrack, 212-645-1544)



EC ADOPTS BRAIN RESEARCH PROGRAM

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, 1989 AUG 8 (NB) -- After an experimental

try-out in 1983-85, the BRAIN project has got the go-ahead from

the European Commission (EC) to do fundamental research on

adaptive intelligence and neural computing.



The BRAIN project has been sponsored by the European Community

to theorise, experiment or simulate neuron networks in a human

brain to see how this can be programmed into a machine without

referring to artificial intelligence, a closed system in

itself.



Ilya Prigogine,the Belgian Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry,

plus Thomson researcher Pierre Aigrain and Claude Frejacques,

head of CNRS, the prestigious French research institute, are

amongst the team whose task it is to set up the BRAIN program.



The project will study the unique feature of a human brain to

self-program itself. The most ambitious element in the project

is to endeavor the simulation of a human neuron network with

the help of Transputer microprocessors, a theme which will be


explored by Cambridge University, as well as the Universities

of Edinburgh in Scotland, La Sapineza in Rome, and CNRS in

France.


(Eric Dauchy/19890811)



CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT COMPUTERS:

   Home computers, answering machines and VCRs are considered

necessities by the USA's affluent, a new survey suggests. The

question asked by the Roper Organization: Which items can't you

do without? Also mentioned: Cable TV, car phone, vacation home.

The top items are all home electronics. (From the USA TODAY

News section.)



HIGH-TECH OFFICIALS SELL SHARES:

   Insiders at several high-technology companies sold stock in

their firms during January. Among the sellers: At Chips &

Technologies, 8 insiders sold the chipmaker's stock for $6.2

million. At software maker Phoenix Technologies, 7 insiders

sold stock. At Amdahl, a mainframe computer maker, 2 execs sold

184,216 shares. (From the USA TODAY Money section.)




NEW CHIP MAKES ITS DEBUT:

   Today is the day Intel Corp. unveils a newer, faster

computer chip. The N-10 is a 64-bit microprocessor that

performs calculations 4 times speedier than today's fastest

chip. Analysts are wowed by its promise, but say it probably

won't be available in a computer until next year.



CELLS MIGHT HOLD MORE HACKERS:

   More computer hackers might find the
mselves going to prison

if the recent prison sentence given 18-year-old hacker Herbert

D. Zinn Jr. prompts more companies to prosecute, Computerworld

says. Zinn, given 9 months for copying programs and destroying

files, is the first person convicted under the Computer Fraud

and Abuse Act of 1986. Victimized firms usually try to avoid

hacking publicity.




IBM EXPANDS COMPUTER SYSTEM:

   IBM has announced enhancements to its Application System/400

business computers to provide more capacity in entry-level

models. Included: A $9,800 unit for the model B20 that lets

users add disk storage, communications lines and other devices,

and additional memory capacity for models B10 and B20. A 4

megabyte memory card will be $6,000.




COMPUTERS GO INTO TRAINING:

   IBM has jumped into a project that the computer-maker hopes

will elevate educational levels around the USA. The company

plans to assist job-training centers to help clients with

developing basic skills, Computerworld reports. IBM will lend

computers and software to 76 job-training centers. The program

goes into 23 centers this year, the rest will phase in within 3

years.



COPIER PLUGS INTO COMPUTER:

   The Remote Interactive Communications system has been

developed by Xerox to predict potential copier problems before

they occur, reports CommunicationsWeek. The system stays

on-line 24 hours a day and uses an electronic data interface to

connect the copier to a central host computer with a dedicated

phone line. It is available on Xerox 1090 copiers.


THE SONAR SOUNDS FOR RAYTHEON:

   The U.S. Navy has awarded a $46.6 million contract to

Raytheon Co.'s Submarine Signal Division for initial production

of a newly developed Advanced Minehunting Sonar System. 2

systems will be produced by Raytheon and a major subcontractor,

Thomson Sintra of France. Also: 2 existing models will be

refurbished for use as operational sonars to meet critical ship

delivery requirements.



NAVY COMPUTER PLANS FROZEN:

   The General Services Administration has put a clamp on U.S.

Navy computer purchases worth more than $2.5 million for at

least 60 days, Computerworld reports. A congressional

investigation into allegations that the Navy is biased toward

IBM hardware. The GSA will review all new computer procurements

proposed by the Navy and provide information to investigators.



VIDEOTEL TO ADD DALLAS SERVICE

HOUSTON, TEXAS, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 27 (NB) -- Houston-based

Videotel is planning to offer its information service in Dallas

beginning in November.



Videotel's information service is based on the French Minitel

system. It uses small terminals that plug into telephone jacks.

Videotel launched a year-long trial in Houston with

Southwestern Bell in April. Earlier this month, the company

announced an agreement with Bell Canada to provide Videotel

information service in Montreal and Toronto in 1990.

The expansion into Dallas does not involve assistance from

Southwestern Bell, a situation that will make it more difficult

for Videotel to establish an identity in the local market. The

service offered in Dallas will be similar to that offered in

Houston and will involve a $14.98 monthly fee for terminal

rental and basic service.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890929)


SHARP PUTS WIZARDS ONLINE

TOKYO, JAPAN, 1989 SEP 27 (NB) -- Sharp intends to launch VAN

(value added network) services for its electronic organizers

owners, including owners of the Sharp Wizard sold in the U.S.

and abroad. The communication software will come on an IC

(integrated circuit) card.



Sharp's electronic organizer business is showing over 50

percent growth this year, with over 2.7 million units sold, and

control of over 70 percent of the market for such products in

Japan. The IC cards which serve as software for the units, have

sold to the tune of three million units.


Sharp will also include its personal computers and word

processors into the VAN services and is also aiming to

construct a database for the service. It will open its first

access points in metropolitan areas, such as Tokyo, Osaka, and

Nagoya, by middle of next year.


(Naoyuki Yazawa/19890928)


AUS: BULLETIN BOARD WANTS UPLOADER CHARGED

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 1989 SEP 25 (NB) -- In the wake of recent

warnings about the effects of software piracy in Australia, a

software supplier has shown disinterest in prosecuting a

bulletin board subscriber for uploading commercial copyrighted

software.


Lloyd Borrett, head of Microhelp which operates the bulletin

board PC Connection in Melbourne, is unhappy with the lack of

response after he wrote to Software supplier Questor suggesting

that it take legal action against a subscriber caught

unlawfully uploading one of its programs.


On August 17 a registered user is alleged to have uploaded a

file, Epyx California Games. Eleven other users downloaded it

before it was spotted as commercial software. Mr Borrett gave

the distributor, Questor, details of the crime and got no

response. He then wrote to Questor's general manager, Jim

Hamilton, and threatened to make the matter public if no action

was taken.


Mr Hamilton said it was unlikely the matter would ever get to

court, because "what could be done, and what should be done"

were different things.

(Gavin Atkins & Computing Australia/19890926)



BELL CANADA PLANS COMMERCIAL VIDEOTEX

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, 1989 SEP 18 (NB) -- Bell Canada will

expand its Alex videotex trial from Montreal to Toronto, and

will apply to turn the trial into a commercial service in the

two centers. As predicted in Newsbytes earlier this month,

Canada's largest telephone company announced the service will

be available here next April. By that time, Bell also hopes to

have permission from the Canadian Radio-television and

Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to offer Alex as a full

commercial service.


Jean Monty, president of Bell Canada, said at a press

conference the company would consider further expansion to

cities such as Ottawa, Quebec, and London, Ontario, in future.

"In the long run it should be a Bell Canada territory

offering," he said. Bell Canada provides telephone service in

Ontario and Quebec, Canada's largest and most populous

provinces.


The company also announced an agreement with U.S. Videotel of

Houston, Texas, one of the largest videotex service providers

in the United States. Through a new subsidiary, Canadian

VideoNet, the Houston company will provide on Alex at least 50

of the information services it currently offers on its American

system. Canadian information providers will also be able to get

access to the U.S. Videotel system through Canadian VideoNet.



Bell Canada made much of U.S. VideoTel's decision to adapt its

services to the North American Presentation Level Protocol

Syntax (NAPLPS) videotex standard for the Canadian market. In

the United States, VideoTel uses the French-developed Teletel

standard. Alex uses NAPLPS, which drew heavily on Canadian

development work in the late 1970s and early 1980s.



Bell Canada also created a new division, Mediatel, to run its

online information and communication services. Aside from Alex,

Mediatel's principal services will be iNet 2000, a gateway

service providing access to many information services, and

Envoy 100, an electronic mail system.


(Grant Buckler/19890921/Press Contact: Joanne Stanley, Bell

Canada, 613-781-3301)


QUANTUM SEEKS 25,000 BETA-TESTERS FOR AMERICAN ONLINE

VIENNA, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 19 (NB) -- Quantum has

announced a plan to have up to 25,000 Apple and Macintosh users

test its new online service called America Online. These test

users will receive free software and free online time to

conduct their evaluations.



Those wishing to participate in the trial or who want more

information about America Online should contact Quantum

Computer Services, Inc., 8619 Westwood Center Drive, Vienna,

Virginia 22182 or call 800-227-6364 or 703-448-8700.


America Online is the new Macintosh/Apple-oriented online

service due to debut this October 2nd from Quantum Computer

Services. For a $5.95 monthly fee, users will receive a custom

user interface program and one hour of service/month, with

additional $5/hour fee for additional time. The service will

compete with CompuServe and GEnie, offering stock quotes,

access to Grolier's Academic Encyclopedia, bulletin boards,

news, electronic mail, and the usual services.



Discounts are available until January 31, 1990, including a

special 20% lifetime rate reduction for charter members. An MS-

DOS version is planned for early 1990, but American Online is a

Macintosh and Apple II only network.



A spokesperson for Quantum said that the service uses both

Tymnet and Telenet but is only available in North America.



Quantum's spokeswoman also pointed out that, since the service

uses custom software that takes advantage of each computer's

specific features, it provides a much friendlier and more

useful service than other services.

(John McCormick/19890922/Press Contact: Nancy Beckman 703-448-

8700)



NYNEX SAYS STRIKE HURTS

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 21 (NB) -- For the first

time the only Bell Company still on strike has admitted the

walkout is hurting its long-term future. Nynex Executive Vice

President James Hennessy said the strike by 60,000 of the

company's telecommunications workers "have a long term negative

effect." Nynex has lost new customers, and will increase its

costs. Little progress was reported in talks to settle the

strike which began August 5, and which is stalled partly by a

dispute over employee contributions for health care benefits.



Separately, the company's New York Telephone unit asked for a

rate hike of $880 million, which could double rates for

residential users. The company says its rate of return has

dropped to 9 percent from 14 percent. Getting the increase

could prove difficult in the present environment, but the

request in the middle of a strike does indicate why the last

Bell is still fighting with its workers.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890921)



BULLETIN BOARD TO FIGHT CRIME

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 12 (NB) -- Mark

Finley, a San Bernardino Deputy Sheriff, has started an

electronic bulletin board for anonymous crime watch tips.



Called "Whistle Blower," the BBS has only been online a short

time but Finley expects it will encourage people to report

crimes they might otherwise disclaim knowledge of. All reports

will be forwarded to the proper jurisdiction so the system is

meant to be used by people far and wide.



Because the system involves the use of high tech equipment,

Finley anticipates a high proportion of reports will concern

white collar crime. In the case of a person who would normally

remain silent in fear of his job or career, the anonymity

offered by computer use is expected to allow these individuals

to come forward. Finley plans to alter reports slightly,

correcting spelling errors and eliminating slang expressions

that might give the tipster away.



The number for the Whistle Blower is 714-873-9547. Finley is

working with a pair of lawyers to obtain foundation funding or

grants to expand the system and support a toll-free number.

(Janet Endrijonas/19890915)



ESPRIT LAUNCHES 9,600 BAUD MODEM UNDER V.32

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 12 (NB) -- Esprit

Systems announced a 9,600 baud dial-up external modem under the

V.32 standard of the CCITT. The Envoy 96e matches the

specifications of most of the company's competitors, but not

those of Hayes Microcomputer Products, which continues to sell

a V-Series modem running under V.32 in a half-duplex, ping-

pong manner, according to company spokesmen. The new Envoys,

however, do respect an extended version of Hayes' AT command

set, with error correction done under the MNP 5 protocol, not

the V.42 scheme favored by Hayes. In years past, strict Hayes

compatibility was the cloners' objective.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890915/Press Contact: Esprit Systems, James

Wong, 408-954-9900)



JAPAN TAKES ANOTHER STEP IN BBS MOVEMENT

KIRYU, JAPAN, 1989, SEPTEMBER 2 (NB) -- The Association for

Information Design in Greater Kiryu, set up to explore the use

of bulletin board and database systems to spur economic

activity, was launched September 2 in Kiryu, Japan, according

to Hiro Nakamura, reporting for The Teleputing Hotline, a

newsletter covering telephone-computer connections worldwide.


Members of the association include local governments and

businesses.



The Watarase Association Network (WAN), launched last December

as a bulletin board system, will be the centerpiece of the

study.



Over 200,000 people live around Kiryu, best known for its silk

textiles and 60 percent share of Japan's Pachinko machine

production. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry,

or MITI, last spring authorized Kiryu as a "New Media

Community" with WAN as the official project and a budget of

30-50 million yen, roughly $200-350,000.



The Watarase Association Network now has over 600 members,

posting over 30 messages per day. That's not much compared to

U.S. bulletin boards, but it's quite active for such a system

in Japan. The boost from the government and industry is

expected to boost traffic considerably.

(Dana Blankenhorn/19890915)



ONLINE SERVICE OUTAGES EFFECT MOST USERS

ATLANTA, GEORGIA, U.S.A., 1989 SEP 15 (NB) -- Nothing is wrong

with your PC. But online networks worldwide have been afflicted

with a rash of problems and outages lately.



The Teleputing Hotline, a newsletter covering

telephone-computer connections worldwide, reports that in Japan

Nikkei Telecom, that country's major database network, went

down on the evening of September 2 after a power failure.

Nikkei Telecom sells financial databases as well as news in

English and Japanese on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. The

host computer was down from 7:10-11:30 PM. It was the first

breakdown for Nikkei, but an engineer said, "It took such a

long time to recover since the system is very complicated."



During the weekend of September 9-10, Steve Gold reported, the

international X.25 links of Genie, Dialcom, Telenet, Tymnet,

Mercury 5100 and the IPSS service of British Telecom were all

down. His Newsbytes-London report was finally submitted via

CompuServe. Steve also reported that a survey by the European

Association of Information Services (Eusdic) has shocked the

European datacommunications world by revealing that one in four

European international data calls, primarily to the U.S., fail

for various reasons.


GEnie service in the U.S. also went down Saturday morning,

September 9 and was out for more than 24 hours following

procedural errors at a Midwestern facility. Most services were

restored by noon the next day, spokesmen said.


(Dana Blankenhorn/19890915)



Date: Mon, 27 Mar 89 13:27:32 BST

From: Eric Percival <[e-mail]>

Subject: Subversive bulletin boards



This week's (26 March.) Sunday Times (UK) has an article relating to a Bulletin

Board being run by a 14-year-old boy in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England, which

contains information relating to such things as making plastic explosives.

Anti-terrorist detectives are said to be investigating for possible breaches of

the Obscene Publications Act.  Apparently reporters were able to easily gain

access to this bulletin board and peruse articles on such subjects as credit

card fraud, making various types of explosive, street fighting techniques and

dodging police radar traps.  One article was obviously aimed at children and

described how to make a bomb suitable for use on "the car of a teacher you do

not like at school," which would destroy the tyre of a car when it was started.

The boys parents did not seem to think that their son was doing anything wrong,

preferring him to be working with his computer rather than roaming the streets.

A London computer consultant, Noel Bradford, is quoted as having seen the

bulletin board and found messages discussing "how to crack British Telecom, how

to get money out of people and how to defraud credit card companies.  Credit

card numbers are given, along with PIN numbers, names, addresses and other

details."