.net (French) 1996 November/.net Magazine (FR) - Issue 01 - Nov 1996.iso/mac/Courrier/Pegasus Mail v2.1.2 Folder/Mail/P39A00.CNM

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There are 3 messages totalling 1057 lines in this issue.

Topics in this special issue:

  1. SCOUT The Scout Report -- April 26, 1996
  2. EDUPAGE> Edupage, 28 April 1996
  3. INSIDER> Seidman's Online Insider, April 28, 1996

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 28 Apr 1996 10:19:40 -0500
From:    Gleason Sackman <[e-mail]>
Subject: SCOUT The Scout Report -- April 26, 1996

Date:         Fri, 26 Apr 1996 14:15:58 -0500
From: Scout <[e-mail]>
Subject:      The Scout Report -- April 26, 1996
To: Multiple recipients of list SCOUT-REPORT
              <[e-mail]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~                         The Scout Report                           ~~
                           April 26, 1996

                  A Publication of Net Scout Services
    Computer Science Department, University of Wisconsin

                   A Project of the InterNIC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and
newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and
educators, the InterNIC's primary audience. However, everyone is welcome
to subscribe to one of the mailing lists (plain text or HTML) or visit the
Web version of the Scout Report. Subscription instructions are
included at the end of each report or at the Web site.

http://rs.internic.net/scout/report

Send comments and contributions to [e-mail]

In This Issue:

Research and Education:
   Collaborative Research on Learning Technologies -- a new NSF grant
   Explorations -- an electronic book by the Cornell University Theory
     Center
   OCLC SiteSearch WebZ  -- an evaluation system at the University of
     Missouri
   County and City Data Books for 1988 and 1994 -- University of Virginia
   Other searchable statistical databases at the University of Virginia
   The Student Market -- used textbook exchange on the Net
   The Calls For Papers mailing list at the University of Pennsylvania's
     English Dept.

General Interest:
   "Information Society Trends" from the European Union
   Smithsonian Virtual Festival: "VFest"
   National Endowment for the Arts
   The Population Bomb
   Internet Daily Stock Report
   Johann Sebastian Bach

Network Tools:
   Conferencing on the World Wide Web
   ISDN InfoCentre
   Updates and Additions to Scout Toolkit

Research and Education:
---------------------------

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recently announced a grant
program for Collaborative Research on Learning Technologies. The objective
is to stimulate research on the integration of technology with learning at
all levels of education--from K-12 to college and University, and from
learning in the classroom to self-directed and lifelong learning. Projects
supported through this program should involve a significant research
component in the information, computer, communications and computation
science and engineering aspects of learning technologies. The CRLT Program
will: 1) Fund research projects that establish collaborations involving
researchers from more than one discipline; 2) Fund a number of smaller
exploratory research grants that foster interdisciplinary collaborations
and explore possible new areas of research opportunity; 3) Establish one
or more real or virtual Centers for Collaborative Research on Learning
Technologies. Proposals that involve collaborations among institutions are
encouraged. Preliminary proposals are due June 1, 1996, and final
proposals are due July 15, 1996. CRLT is a joint program of 4 NSF
Directorates: Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE),
Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), and Mathematical
and Physical Sciences (MPS). For more information on the CRLT program,
contact John C. Cherniavsky, CISE ([e-mail]), Nora H. Sabelli EHR
([e-mail]), John W. Prados, ENG ([e-mail]) or Alvin Thaler,
MPS ([e-mail]).
http://www.nsf.gov:80/nsf/homepage/progdead/deadline.htm
scroll to Collaborative Research on Learning Technologies (NSF 96-80)
gopher://stis.nsf.gov:70/7waissrc%3A/.waissrc/nsf-pubs.src?nsf9680
gopher to stis.nsf.gov
select: Search NSF publications and search: "learning ADJ technologies"
(without the quotes). NSF 96-80 is the CRLT proposal.


"Explorations," a Cornell Theory Center Web site, is designed as a virtual
book consisting of four chapters on ongoing scientific research : Above
and Beyond, Down to Earth, Living Things, and Particle Particles.
"Explorations" is intended to be an "interactive journey into the world of
computational research for a wide range of viewers." Topics include
cosmology, fluid flow, biodiversity, molecular biochemistry, ocean
resources and ecosystems, carpal tunnel syndrome, and fusion, among
others. What ties all these topics together in this virtual book is the
use of computer generated visualizations to demonstrate various concepts.
"Explorations" is readable only through Netscape 2.0 and incorporates
frames, animations, images, and VRML files. This is a site rich in
graphics and content and beautiful to view, but users with slow
connections must be patient. Note that it is important to read the
Navigation Tips section to make full use of the site.
http://www.tc.cornell.edu/er96/science96/Explorations/
Slightly less graphical:
http://www.tc.cornell.edu/er96/science96/Explorations/TOC/index.html


The University of Missouri has made the OCLC (Online Computer Library
Center) SiteSearch WebZ evaluation system available on the Web. Searchable
databases include Current Contents, Expanded Academic Index, Legal
Resource Index, and Business Index. Searching can be done on title
keyword, author phrase, subject keyword, or journal title phrase. Boolean
searching and powerful proximity searching are available. Inverted indexes
of each searchable field dictionary are also available. The help files are
crucial to exploiting the power of the searching system, as they explain
basic searching, broadening and refining searches, and the indexes
available for searching in each database. Using the indexes allows
searchers to construct much more powerful searches. All help files are
located under "Help" on any search page. For additional information about
the databases, click on "Descriptions of the databases and what they
contain" after you begin searching. Note that the University of Missouri
specifically states that this an "initial implementation," which means
that it is a beta offering.  However, the quality of the databases, as
well as the power of the searching system, make this site worth a visit.
http://sequoia.lso.missouri.edu:4300


The University of Virginia Social Science Data Center has made "County and
City Data Books" for 1988 and 1994 available to be searched via the Web.
"County and City Data Book" is a Census Bureau publication which is
distributed every four to six years. It contains over 200 demographic,
economic, and governmental variables from both federal government and
private agency sources, presented for the purpose of multi-area
comparisons or single area profiles. It is designed to present a
"snapshot" of county, city, and state data for the year it covers. There
is usually a two year lag between the year of the book and the year of the
data. Users can choose areas and variables, and there is an option under
county and city data to pick all the counties or cities of a particular
state. Output can be sorted in three ways, and can be displayed to the
browser or saved in an ftp file as either browser output, or comma
delimited output for later importing into statistical applications.
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/ccdb


"County and City Data Books" are only one of several statistical databases
that the Social Science Data Center has made available for interactive
searching. Also included are the "Regional Economic Information System"
(REIS) 1969-1993, with national, regional, state, and county employment,
income and earnings data; "County Business Patterns" 1977-1993, with 2
digit SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) business data on
establishments, employment, and payroll; "World Tables" (World Bank)
1950-1992, with 244 economic and social variables for 189 countries, and
the "1987 SIC Manual," among others. Also included are pointers to other
interactive statistical data resources.
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/interactives.html


The Student Market Book Exchange allows students from every university in
the U.S. to post information about a textbook they'd like to sell, and
search for textbooks they'd like to buy. Users are able to browse books
posted from the same institution they are attending, and to post to all
institutions or to specific campuses. Forms are provided for listing the
subject area, title, edition, and even the condition of the book in
question. If there is extensive participation, the site could become a
handy book-buying alternative for students.
http://www.studentmkt.com


The University of Pennsylvania English Department provides the Calls For
Papers mailing list (CFP) to facilitate the announcement of conferences
and publishing opportunities in English and American literature. CFP
encourages conference or panel organizers and volume editors to post all
such announcements to this list, whether or not they subscribe.
Announcements can include upcoming conferences, panels, essay collections,
and special journal issues, and can include calls for completed papers,
abstracts, and proposals. Anything related to English and American
literature is welcome, including gender studies, other English-language
literature, cultural studies, queer theory, bibliography, humanities
computing, and comparative literature. Literature in other languages,
music, art, history, etc., are excluded unless they relate to English and
American literature, as are lecture series, regular meetings of small
local societies, fellowship opportunities, etc. An archive of the
announcements is maintained at both the CFP Web and gopher site, and is
available to be browsed by subject or date.
To subscribe send email to: [e-mail]
  In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE CFP
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
gopher://gopher.english.upenn.edu:70/11/Announce/CFP/
gopher to: gopher.english.upenn.edu
select: Announcements and News about English/Calls For Papers


General Interest:
-------------------

The European Union's Information Society Project Office (ISPO) now
provides its bimonthly newsletter, "Information Society Trends," via email
and the Web. The objectives of the ISPO include: "to create awareness of
the potential impact of the information society; to address information
society issues by providing a forum for the pooling of relevant solutions;
and to facilitate the launching of relevant international cooperation
actions." "Information Society Trends" contains information on information
technology related services, products, markets, companies, legislation,
policies, and technology issues. Each issue contains worldwide news broken
down by geographic area. Each "story" is no longer than a sentence or two,
but the strength of the report is that it allows readers to quickly keep
up with worldwide developments. A complete, browsable archive is kept on
the Information Society Trends Web page.
To subscribe send email to: [e-mail]
   In the body of the message type: SUBSCRIBE ISTRENDS your e-mail address
http://www.ispo.cec.be/ispo/istrenddl.html
Complete Archive:  http://www.ispo.cec.be/ispo/press.html
For more information about ISPO:  http://www.ispo.cec.be/
For more information about other ISPO Information Society initiatives:
http://www.ispo.cec.be/infosoc/infosoc.html


The Smithsonian Virtual Festival, "VFest," relates indirectly to the
Festival of American Folklife mounted every summer on the National Mall in
Washington D.C. Using multimedia materials developed for Mall presentation
combined with other research materials, this edition of VFest takes the
online visitor to a lu'au in Hawai'i, an African naming ceremony, and
borders with Mexico. The visitor can hear Mixteco music from the border
and pronunciation of Yoruba names for a child, see videos of a sacred
Indian dance and a spontaneous hula at a private party, and try recipes
for Hawaiian and African food. The Borders pages provide aids for
classroom teaching.
http://www.si.edu/folklife/vfest


The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has recently opened a Web site.
It consists of three parts: a guide to the NEA, with an overview of the
NEA grant making program that includes applicant guidelines and staff
information, as well as a hyperlinked list of state and regional arts
organizations; an arts resource center, with a listing of NEA
publications, information about international funding opportunities, and a
large listing of arts service organizations in over 20 subject categories;
and "arts.community," an online NEA publication that contains features
such as a focus on a particular community, a featured artist, a writers
corner, and endowment news, as well as links to other arts related sites.
http://arts.endow.gov/


Paul Ehrlich and the Population Bomb: The human population is likely to
double by the middle of the 21st century, soaring past an estimated 10
billion people on the planet. The new PBS television documentary and
companion Web site, Paul Ehrlich and The Population Bomb (broadcast
premiere: April 26), looks at the ideas of one scientist whose theories
link overpopulation to a broad range of global problems. The Internet
content includes: current statistics about the world's dwindling natural
resources; a directory of organizations committed to improving conditions
resulting from overpopulation; teacher resources and a classroom "word
game"; a glossary of key terms and a reading list; a population timeline
dating from 10,000 BC to the 1994 World Population conference in Cairo;
and background information about Paul Ehrlich and the producers.
http://www.pbs.org/population_bomb/


The Internet Daily Stock Report contains a daily market recap and morning
report on how Internet related stocks are faring. Provided by Internet
World, it also contains an Internet stock index of over twenty companies,
with names, stock symbols, and business type. Hypertext links to the home
pages of those companies are provided.
http://netday.iworld.com/stocks/


For lovers of Johann Sebastian Bach a visit to the J.S. Bach Home Page
will be worth the trip. This very comprehensive site appears to include
pointers to everything about Bach available on the Net, including listings
of his complete works, MIDI files of his recordings, and a calendar of
upcoming events related to his music. The site is searchable, and the
complete works listing can be browsed by category, title, year, instrument
& title, instrument & year, BWV number, or even by key. The Recommended
Recordings section is organized by title, conductor/performer, instrument,
BWV, record label, and recent submissions. Also available are links to
biographies, photographs, literature, and other sites offering resources
on Bach.
http://tile.net/bach/index.html


Network Tools:
-----------------

Conferencing on the World Wide Web--Interactive discussions and
group forums: If you want your Web site to have pages that allow
interactive text based discussion forums, the Conferencing on the World
Wide Web page is a great resource to use to find an exhaustive list of
pointers to information about commercial software, free software,
proprietary systems, and "almost web conferencing." Each listing under
free and commercial software provides a short annotation of how the system
works, platform availability, examples of the software in action (when
available) and either the download site or pricing information. At
present, information on over 50 conferencing products is available. This
resource covers text based web conferencing (discussion forums and
groupware) systems, not web based teleconferencing systems such as
CuSeeme.
http://freenet.msp.mn.us/~drwool/webconf.html


For Internauts for whom the letters ISDN stand for I Still Do Not...
understand, the ISDN InfoCentre is the place to go. ISDN (Integrated
Services Digital Network) is an alternative to a modem connection to the
Internet, and can deliver the Internet to home and office at up to four
times the speed of the fastest modem connection currently available. The
InfoCentre, provided by Open Communication Networks, Inc., gives basic
(and not so basic) information about setting up an ISDN connection. The
ISDN in Plain English section provides a basic FAQ for the ISDN beginner.
ISDN 101--Solutions for the Beginner is a work in progress, but provides
(after registering) network diagrams and interactive information to help
users understand their own ISDN requirements. Dear Mr. ISDN answers email
questions about ISDN, and includes a "propeller heads" section for more
technical questions. The InfoCentre also provides ISDN ordering links to
major national ISDN providers, information about hardware, and other ISDN
links.
http://www.isdn.ocn.com/


Recent updates and additions to the Scout Toolkit include:

Search Tools--Searchable Indexes: The WebCrawler annotation has been
updated, as WebCrawler now offers a browsable subject directory of sites,
as well as more powerful search capabilities.
http://rs.internic.net/scout/toolkit/3b1-1.html

Search Tools--Specialized Directories: Savetz Publishing's The Un-Official
Internet Booklist, with over 475 books about the Internet, has been added.
http://rs.internic.net/scout/toolkit/3b4-15.html

Specialized Tools: The Internet Telephone section has been reworked, with
five new Windows and one new Macintosh software product pointers, as well
as a pointer to a comparison of 12 Internet telephone products recently
done by c|net.
http://rs.internic.net/scout/toolkit/3d4.html

Specialized Tools: An annotation has been added for video and audio
streaming technologies, which promise real time viewing of video and audio
files.
http://rs.internic.net/scout/toolkit/3d8.html

The Scout Toolkit:
http://rs.internic.net/scout/toolkit


Scout Report and Scout Report HTML Subscription Instructions
_____________________________________________________________________
**  To receive the electronic mail version of the Scout Report each
week, join the scout-report mailing list. This is the only mail you will
receive from this list.

send email to:     [e-mail]

in the body of the message, type:

   subscribe scout-report yourfirstname yourlastname

For example, if your name is Frasier Crane, type

   subscribe scout-report Frasier Crane

If your name is not Frasier Crane, substitute your own name.

** To unsubscribe from the scout-report list,

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Do not type your name when unsubscribing.


**  To receive the Scout Report in HTML format for local viewing and
posting, subscribe to the scout-report-html mailing list, used
exclusively to distribute the Scout Report in HTML format once a week.

send mail to:   [e-mail]

in the body of the message, type:

  subscribe scout-report-html yourfirstname yourlastname

For example, if your name is Frasier Crane, type

  subscribe scout-report-html Frasier Crane.

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Do not type your name when unsubscribing.



The Scout Report's Web page:
http://rs.internic.net/scout/report

FTP site:
ftp://rs.internic.net/scout/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~
Copyright Susan Calcari, 1996.  Permission is granted to make and
distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright
notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC
provides information about the Internet to the US research and education
community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science
Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this
material.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in
this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the National
Science Foundation, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.
                                                                       ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 28 Apr 1996 17:20:00 -0500
From:    Gleason Sackman <[e-mail]>
Subject: EDUPAGE> Edupage, 28 April 1996

Date: Sun, 28 Apr 1996 14:23:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Edupage Editors <[e-mail]>
To: "EDUCOM Edupage Mailing List" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Edupage, 28 April 1996

*****************************************************************
Edupage, 28 April 1996.  Edupage, a summary of news items on information
technology, is provided three times each week as a service by Educom,
a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information technology.
*****************************************************************

TOP STORIES
        Japanese Chip Production Full Speed Ahead
        Chip Demand On The Rise In Asia
        Network PC Or Information Appliance?
        Biped Animation Software
        Continental To Offer Phone, Internet Service
        Internet Long-Distance To Fight Phone Fees

ALSO
        Flat Pricing On GTE Airfone
        New LCD Displays
        Memphis, Cairo Links
        Apple Delays Copland
        Hey, Big Spender

JAPANESE CHIP PRODUCTION FULL SPEED AHEAD
While U.S. companies are pulling back on new chip factory construction,
three of Japan's largest semiconductor manufacturers are going forward with
big expansion plans.  Hitachi will spend $1.12 billion on a next-generation,
64-megabit memory chip plant, scheduled to open in the first half of 1998.
Mitsubishi Electric is upgrading its factory in Saijo, Japan, to produce
64-megabit chips by October 1997, and NEC is pouring about $1.85 billion
over the next decade into a research facility to develop even more advanced
one-gigabit memory chips, starting in late 1997.  "This is how they will
survive in this market," says an analyst with Morgan Stanley Japan Ltd.
"Without this type of more stable investment policy, I think they can't
survive as a first-tier group."  (Wall Street Journal 26 Apr 96 A8)

CHIP DEMAND ON THE RISE IN ASIA
Dan Klesken, an industry analyst with Robertson, Stephens & Co., is bullish
on the long-term chip market:  "If you look at the U.S. over the next 20
years, we're going to generate about 25 million new jobs.  But if you look
at Asia, including China, that region is going to generate about 250 million
new jobs.  Those new wage earners will be buying PCs, digital TVs, digital
cellular phones, etc.  The industry today will consume about 250 acres of
silicon.  But, by my calculations, it's going to be up around 1, 600 acres
in about 10 years' time."  (Investor's Business Daily 29 Apr 96 A6)

NETWORK PC OR INFORMATION APPLIANCE?
Farzad Dibachi, a former Oracle senior VP leading the push for the $500
network PC, has started his own company and thinks he has a better idea.
Dibachi's new firm, Diba, plans to develop technology that will allow
consumer electronics companies to manufacture a variety of inexpensive,
single-purpose appliances.  "I think it's a brilliant idea," says the
president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.  "They have started from
ground zero and built a new thing that isn't a computer, it's an information
appliance."  Oracle Executive VP David Roux isn't so sanguine:  "He's got
the right train on the wrong track."  (Wall Street Journal 26 Apr 96 B3)

BIPED ANIMATION SOFTWARE
A new software program from Autodesk's newly formed Kinetix unit takes the
drudgery out of computer animation.  Biped, a plug-in module for Autodesk's
3D Studio Max, supplies the animation sequence for how a stick figure would
move between any programmer-specified point A and point B, filling in
details such as how arms would swing and the head would nod as the character
moves along.  Another module, Physique, supplies even more detail for 3-D
figures, such as how the bicep would bulge when the arm was bent, etc.  The
whole thing's "pretty amazing," according to a Dataquest analyst.  (Business
Week 29 Apr 96 p93)

CONTINENTAL TO OFFER PHONE, INTERNET SERVICE
Continental Cablevision isn't wasting any time in taking advantage of the
new telecommunications deregulation act.  It will begin offering subscribers
in California and Florida telephone and cable modem service later this year,
with plans to rapidly expand into Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York.
By the end of the year, Continental expects to have upgraded its systems in
New England, and will have the ability to offer 1.1 million subscribers
cable modem service.  (Broadcasting & Cable 22 Apr 96 p61)

INTERNET LONG-DISTANCE TO FIGHT PHONE FEES
New Internet long-distance provider ShadowTel vowed to fight a Canadian
regulatory commission decision that it must pay contribution fees to phone
companies to help keep local rates low.  The company's position is that
rules for long-distance resellers should not apply to it because it uses
Internet technology from beginning to end.  (Ottawa Citizen 27 Apr 96 E4)

=================================================

FLAT PRICING ON GTE AIRFONE
GTE Airfone is changing its strategy on phone call pricing, ditching its
per-minute charges for a flat $15 fee.  The new arrangement will present
significant savings for callers who chat five minutes or more.  The new
rates will kick in on May 1.  (Investor's Business Daily 29 Apr 96 A6)

NEW LCD DISPLAYS
Researchers at Kent State University's Liquid Crystal Institute are working
on a cheaper liquid-crystal display technology that produces clearer images
using less energy.  The new displays use a cholesteric liquid-crystal
material that reacts differently to light than the material used in
conventional displays.  Rather than twisting the light so it can pass
through a filter, one ray is reflected, and the other is transmitted --
electrifying the chemical turns it clear.  Because the cholesteric LCDs
reflect light without the need for polarizing filters, they can be bright
and legible without being backlit, thus saving energy.  The panels will be
able to run about 10 times longer on batteries than is possible with
conventional displays.  (Scientific American May 96 p32)

MEMPHIS, CAIRO LINKS
Microsoft plans to release major upgrades of both Windows 95 and Windows NT
in late 1997 or early 1998, with the code-named Memphis and Cairo software
versions being the first step toward a standardized Windows for corporate
users.  The two programs will share the same basic, 32-bit kernel "around
1998."  But some analysts are skeptical about Microsoft's ability to bring
products out on time, while others point out that by 1998, the company will
need to begin launching a 64-bit version of its NT Server to work with
planned 64-bit Unix systems planned for that timeframe.  "The fact is there
will always be two versions of the kernel," says a Forrester Research
analyst.  (Information Week 22 Apr 96 p22)

APPLE DELAYS COPLAND
Rumors from sources within Apple say that the introduction of Copland,
Apple's next-generation operating system, will be delayed until mid-1997.
(Computer Industry Daily 29 Apr 96)

HEY, BIG SPENDER
In a debate at a meeting of the American Association of Advertising
Agencies, technology pundit George Gilder (author of "Microcosm") remarked
that "the consumer will definitely pay for information on the Internet," but
was challenged by skeptic Clifford Stoll (author of "Silicon Snake Oil"),
who argued that "the dirty little secret of Internet is that it's a
neighborhood of cheapskates" for "as soon as you charge people pennies to
click onto icons, they stop."  (New York Times 26 Apr 96 C17)

Edupage is written by John Gehl ([e-mail]) & Suzanne Douglas
([e-mail]).  Voice:  404-371-1853, Fax: [phone].

Technical support is provided by the Office of Information Technology,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

***************************************************************
Edupage ... is what you've just finished reading.  To subscribe to Edupage:
send mail to: [e-mail] with the message:  subscribe edupage
Yogi Berra (if your name is Yogi Berra;  otherwise, substitute your own
name).  ...  To cancel, send a message to: [e-mail] with the
message: unsubscribe edupage.   (If you have subscription problems, send
mail to [e-mail].)

Educom Review ... is our bimonthly print magazine on information technology
and education.  Subscriptions are $18 a year in the U.S.;  send mail to
[e-mail].  When you do, we'll ring a little bell, because we'll be
so happy!  Choice of bell is yours:  a small dome with a button, like the
one on the counter at the dry cleaners with the sign "Ring bell for
service"; or a small hand bell; or a cathedral bell;  or a door bell; or a
chime;  or a glockenspiel.  Your choice.  But ring it!

Educom Update ...  is our twice-a-month electronic summary of organizational
news and events. To subscribe, send mail to: [e-mail] with
the message:  subscribe update Samuel Goldwyn (if your name is Samuel
Goldwyn;  otherwise, substitute your own name).

Archives & Translations ...  Edupage is translated into Chinese, French,
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Spanish.  For translations and archives, see  < http://www.educom.edu/ >.
Or send mail to [e-mail] for info on subscribing to any
of these translations.

Today's Honorary Subscribers ...  Yogi Berra, the baseball player and
manager, and Samuel Goldwyn, the movie producer.  Both had a way with words.
Berra was the first person to report experiencing "deja vu all over again,"
and Goldwyn once told a group of dealmakers to "include me out" of their
project.

*******************************************************************
Educom -- Transforming Education Through Information Technology
*******************************************************************

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 28 Apr 1996 23:53:20 -0500
From:    Gleason Sackman <[e-mail]>
Subject: INSIDER> Seidman's Online Insider, April 28, 1996

Date:         Mon, 29 Apr 1996 00:43:33 -0400
From: "Robert D. Seidman" <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Seidman's Online Insider, April 28, 1996
To: Multiple recipients of list ONLINE-L
              <[e-mail]>

============================================================================
                         Seidman's Online Insider
============================================================================
      Weekly Summary of  Major Online Services and Internet Events
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. 3 Number 17                                      April 28,  1996
============================================================================

Copyright (C) 1996 Robert Seidman ([e-mail]).  All rights
reserved.   May be reproduced in any medium for non-commercial purposes,
so long as attribution is given.

IN THIS ISSUE
=============
-AOL Launches Web Chat
-Click Here for $$$?
-Netscape: Can You Hang on for the Ride?
-Update on Microsoft Support Newsgroups
-Newsworthy Notes
-Stock Watch
-Disclaimer
-Subscription Information



AOL Launches Web Chat
=====================

Once again, I find myself having something nice to say about AOL. Before
getting to that, in the interest of balance, here are some nuggets which
may soothe those who hate AOL.

Nugget #1.  Growth may be slowing down.   On December 28, 1995, AOL
announced it had surpassed the 4.5 million member mark.  About 40 days
later, on February 6, AOL announced it had eclipsed 5 million.  Since
then, we've heard nothing, but I believe we'll hear shortly that they've
eclipsed the 6 million member mark.  The thing is AOL was growing at a run
rate of about 1 million every 80 days.  By that logic, if AOL was still
growing at that pace, they'd have announced the 6 million mark on about
April 26.  I expect we'll see this announcement sometime in the next 2
weeks, and it really isn't a big  deal because the tremendous growth from
December 28 to February 6 was  fueled heavily by the rush of Christmas
PCs, and provided that they do  announce within the next couple of weeks,
that will still mean growth is extremely excellent.  Still, they couldn't
keep up with the million every  80 days, and for some of you perhaps
that's a nice thought to hold on to.

Nugget #2.  This is courtesy of the poison pen of "Ned Brainard" at
< http://www.hotwired.com/flux >.   According to the psuedonymed one,
The Robertson, Stephens and Company financial report on AOL issued in
March highlighted an interesting trend.  AOL deleted 250,000 accounts in
the  fourth quarter.  While the report indicates that some of the accounts
may  have been removed for bad credit cards,  the "bigger cause of forced
removal appears to be antisocial behavior" (a.k.a. violating AOL's terms
of service.)  If true, this puts them on a pace to delete almost a
million  accounts per year.  That's a lot of TOS violations.   Still, "The
Happy,  Happy Joy Boys - Steve Case and Ted Leonsis" (Ned's term of
endearment)  are getting filthy rich, and well, Ned and I aren't.  On with
the show...

America Online this week announced the beta of their Virtual Places
software which leverages what they bought when they bought Ubique last
fall for $14.5 million.   Virtual Places is essentially an AOL version of
IRC chat coupled with the premise of virtual (graphic) chat.   Also
included is the ability to take people on tours of the Web and chat about
the sites as you visit them in real time.  This is the same
premise as AOL's "Road Trips".  My first creative thought was: here is a
good opportunity for "Doctor Bob" Rankin, a Boardwatch columnist, and
Patrick Crispen who together run a nice mailing list called "The Internet
TourBus" < http://www.worldvillage.com/tourbus.htm > to do some nice
things in real-time.

I downloaded the Virtual Places beta, installed the software and was up
and running in minutes.  I like how it attaches itself to the "virtual"
(graphical) Web space, but I also liked the fact that I didn't really have
to look at the graphics if I didn't want to.  The instant message facility
works very well, and you don't have to be on a "Virtual Places" page to
take advantage of the instant messages.  Of course, that isn't a problem
with other IRC clients either.  The Virtual Places client is very easy to
use, in fact,  the only complaint I could find was that I wished it was
entirely HTTP based, so that I could use it through the firewall at work
(for testing purposes only, of course!)

It was so easy to use that I wondered if this was a smart thing for AOL to
be putting it out for free on the Internet.  I spoke to AOL Services
Company  president Ted Leonsis by phone.  I candidly asked if he wasn't
worried  that the chat meisters of AOL would blow the $9.95 a month plus
$2.95 an hour popcycle stand for the free Internet version.

"People using the service 20,30,40 hours a month for chat and other
features are less than 10 % of audience," said Leonis.  "They might be
willing to buy an ISP, use Yahoo, use Eudora for e-mail and Virtual Places
for chat," said Leonsis, but he added that he's not worried about a mass
exodus.

Leonsis commented that if they'd had to do things over with Booklink, they
would have licensed the technology separately (which means they would've
given it away), and got it into as many people's hands as they could.

"We learned a lesson with Booklink, where you have some hot technologies
waiting to be freed," said Leonis.   "The market moves so fast that you
can lose leadership in something quickly."

There is definitely advertising potential for Virtual Places, but Leonsis
didn't think that was necessarily the correct route to take, and believes
that people might be turned off by that.  I told him that I had heard that
AOL was working on technology to simulcast AOL "Center Stage" events on
the Net via Virtual Places and that I was sure they would advertise for
those events.

"Advertising is more acceptable for events like that, it's like the
broadcast model," said Leonsis.

While I agree that the heavier user in the 20-40+ hour range represents a
small part of AOL's audience, it does represent a bigger chunk of AOL's
revenue stream.  So there has to be something in this for AOL, and I sort
of wondered what it was.  Leonsis was pretty candid in admitting that they
haven't got it all figured out yet, but he seemed to think that licensing
the technology may be the best bet.  He also saw a situation where they
gave the client software away and kept the servers and AOL would "have the
tollbooth."  Leonsis felt the model may work because the chat software
could stimulate usage AND draw people to a site.  I didn't ask for an
example, because several came to mind immediately.  Imagine AT&T's Lead
Story page at <http://www.leadstory.com >.   Now slap chat on top of it
(well, literally, the chat is actually on the bottom of the Web browser),
so  people can actually discuss the lead story with each other.  I like
this model and I could see where AT&T might be willing to pay a small
toll for the right.   The "Road  Trip" feature that allow you to create
tours of Web sites and discuss them  via chat as you tour is also very
nice, and I could see where AOL would be successful in licensing this
technology to others.


Leonsis told me he had come up with a new meaning for URL.  "Ubiquitous
now, Revenue Later," he joked.   And while Leonsis sees that
disaggregation of content and access may come, he isn't optimistic about
existing  advertising  models on the Web.

"There is no proven business model today on the Web, anywhere, and it
appears that the business of advertising in Web sites will not happen in
most of the Web executives vesting lifetimes," said Leonsis, taking a jab
at  sites like Yahoo and Excite who have recently done initial public
offerings (which have been well received to date.)

You can test drive Virtual Places, but don't bring your Apple, because for
now, it's a Windows world at: < http://gnn.com >.


Click Here for $$$?
===================

Regardless of whether there are 10 million or 15 million users of the
World Wide Web, there is growth.  The advertising community seems to be
settling in on a concept that many web based services relying on
advertising don't want to hear: the advertisers want to pay only when
someone actually clicks on a banner and visits the advertiser's site.
Recently, I was advised of a story running in some advertising magazines
that said Proctor & Gamble is starting to play hardball and only want to
pay when somebody clicks on the banner.

I don't think selling soap on the Web is going to be a very lucrative
business.  Also, just as there is some value for having billboards and
banner advertising (buses, race cars, stadiums) there must be some value
for banner impressions on the Web.  No matter how small.

However, the one argument I seem to hear time and time again is the one
that says "Why should the Web be any different than print media?
Advertisers don't really know who will see their ads in print."  I take
issue with that notion for this reason: when people do see the
advertisements in print media, the process of "glancing" is more natural
than the process of clicking on a banner.  Also, there is much more
information on the printed page ad than there is on a banner.  Still, the
banners have value.  In the end, the advertisers may be shooting
themselves in the foot by requesting to pay only on the click-through,
because it seems reasonable to charge a LOT for
that.  However, some of the Web sites that sell advertising will be forced
to change their model.

Rosalind Resnick wrote an excellent piece on some of the advertising
issues for her Interactive Publishing Alert.  You may read the piece on
the Web at: < http://www.netcreations.com/ipa/excerpts.htm > (at least for
the next couple of weeks or so).  In her piece, Resnick tells the tale of
Songline Studios spending to advertise for their Ferndale soap-opera site
at < http://www.ferndale.com >.  According to Resnick, Songline advertised on
a variety of sites, including Hollywood Online, HotWired and Web Crawler.
HotWired delivered the best click-through percentage (2.8), but it also
delivered the lowest number of impressions (111,740).  Resnick goes on to
say that this meant Songline paid about $4.76 per click-through via
HotWired (which I assume means they spent about $15,000 on the
impressions.)  Resnick comments that for that kind of money Songline
could've taken everyone who clicked on the banner out for a burger and
fries.  They could've "super-sized" for that matter!  Clearly, that's sort
of expensive.   I highly recommend reading the full-text of Resnick's
piece.


Netscape: Can You Hang on for the Ride?
=======================================

Netscape reported a profit of $4.7 million for the first quarter on
revenues of 55 million and earnings per share (EPS) of $.06.

When I see reports on Netscape's "Eye-Popping" ten-fold sales growth over
the last year, I stop, glare, compose myself and say, "why the big deal?!"
A year ago Netscape was just really coming into its own with revenues of
around five million.  While I would maintain that  ten-fold growth in
revenue is a very nice thing to have happen, this is not exactly
astounding news if a.) you were minuscule a year ago, and b.) you're
Netscape.  The hysteria over Netscape was predicated on the supposition
that they WILL GET BIGGER.  So they did get bigger and they beat the
street earnings per share by a few cents.  Netscape's first quarter
revenues rose $15 million over the $40 million or so generated in the
fourth quarter.  It is impressive growth, but not necessarily all that
impressive in light of the high value placed on Netscape stock.

Netscape is now on a run rate for a quarter billion in annual revenue.
The market capitalization on Netscape's stock  (roughly $5.25 billion) as
of the close on Friday was 21 times that of their current revenue run
rate.  I'd call blackjack, on that for sure.  Yeesh.

Microsoft who had a fairly outstanding quarter, too, is on a run rate to
hit about $8.8 billion in annual revenue.  As of Friday's close.
Microsoft's market capitalization was roughly $67.4 billion.  That means
they're market cap is only about 7.7 times that of their current annual
revenue run rate.

Netscape has to have and is expected to have outstanding growth.
Everyone's betting on it.   Why make a big deal of it.  Remember that
Microsoft's market cap is only about 13 times that of Netscape's.  That
sounds like a rather large number.  Until you consider that Microsoft's
net income for their last quarter was $562 million or almost 120 times
Netscape's $4.7 million.

According to Morgan Stanley New Media/Internet analyst Mary Meeker, Morgan
Stanley has upped its annual revenue estimates for 1996 up to $257 million
from the $207 million that had been forecasted earlier.

"Netscape's revenue growth rates (for a software company) are
unprecedented and potential stability/predictability for the company's
financial model (given NSCP's relative toddling status) is just beginning
to become clear," said Meeker in the "Earnings Review" on Netscape.

"We believe that our estimates are conservative, but it's important to
note that the `scapers just cut server prices in March and new server
software isn't expected to begin shipping until June/July, so we believe
it's prudent to be conservative about Q/Q revenue growth rates for CQ2 and
CQ3," said Meeker.

Morgan Stanley maintains its "outperform" rating on Netscape and has
increased its operating EPS estimates for the calendar year 1996 from $.20
to $.27.  Additionally, Morgan Stanley increased its forecasted operating
EPS for 1997 from $.31 to $.40.

"While the company's valuation level and share  volatility are high, and
we believe the stock remains risky, especially after its rapid run-up in
the last two months, it is one of the few public pure play (and real
revenue/profit bearing) investment opportunities in the rapidly growing
Internet market," said Meeker.

Perhaps the most telling comment in the Morgan Stanley earnings report by
Meeker was this comment on the Netscape stock, "Our view? Just hang on for
the ride, but don't expect it to be without bumps...companies like
Netscape don't come along very often."

Indeed they don't.  Netscape has the opportunity to do some amazing
things, and I think they will.  The only problem is that there is going to
be a lot of pressure for Netscape to perform and grow in such amazing ways
as to almost be impossible.  But the market cap seems so out of whack with
anything based in reality that I must remain a cynic.  You should be
cynical about my cynicism though, because I'm doing something that doesn't
work very well when it comes to Wall Street.  I'm trying to apply logic to
something that is not logical! Still, the Netscape gang is extremely
smart...


Update on Microsoft Support Newsgroups
=======================================

I incorrectly reported the NNTP server for the Microsoft newsgroups.  The
correct server is: msnews.microsoft.com .  Also, there is some confusion
about whether Microsoft "pulled" the support forums off of CompuServe.
It's like this, the forums weren't Microsoft's to pull, they just played a
big role in managing and participating in the forums on CompuServe.  The
forums are still on CompuServe and the "Go Words" still work.  The forums
are now supported by a third party group, Windows Users Group Network
(WUGNET).

Larry McJunkin, Online Director for WUGNET believes they will do
a better job providing assistance via the forums than Microsoft did
and they are commited to doing so.

McJunkin may be right.  Do I think everyone who signed up to CompuServe
for the Windows support forums will bail?  No, I don't.  Do I think many
of them will consider it?  Yes, I do.  Microsoft and CompuServe are
business partners on some things, but Microsoft never made a commitment to
CompuServe the way they are claiming a commitment to the Internet.  I
think they'll make good on their commitment to provide support via the
Microsoft support groups on the Internet.  I think very shortly, they will
begin providing better service via these forums than they ever provided on
CompuServe.  Gates will insist on it.   If they do provide good service
for free, word will spread, and people will want to check out what
Microsoft has to say about Microsoft products.

Some people confused what I wrote to mean that the Microsoft newsgroups
were part of the USENET feed.  So far as I know, they are not.  While
the groups are publicly available and use the standard NNTP protocol,
you must point set your browser or NNTP client to point to
msnews.microsoft.com .  Unfortunately, this isn't always easy, and if
you're on AOL, for example, there is no way to get these groups through
AOL's proprietary newsreader (because the groups aren't part of the
standard USENET feed.)


Miscellany
==========
SPYGLASS ACQUIRED SURFWATCH Inc. for approximately $12.6 million in a
stock pooling deal.  Surfwatch is the popular filtering and parental
control software for the Internet.  Surfwatch will become a product group
within Spyglass and the basis for Spyglass' West Coast R&D organization.
--
FREENETS ALL OVER THE WORLD?  I recently received correspondence advising
of a new FreeNet service in Bavaria.  The system is currently available
only in Munich, and it does have an up-front one time charge of 30 DM, but
other than that, it seems to be free.  There is more information available
at: http://www.muenchen.org , but it's in German.
--
ARE YOU A DOOM FANATIC?  If so, you'll want to check out id Software's new
home on the Web at < http://www.idsoftware.com >.
--
GTE TO PROVIDE NETSCAPE with encryption services.  The GTE service will
provide digital certificate that authenticate the identity of those using
Netscape (as well as other applications) on the Internet and Intranets.
--
WALL STREET JOURNAL is shifting its Money & Investment Update page at
< http://update.wsj.com > to the Wall Street Journal Interactive.
The full text of the Wall Street Journal will be available - for a fee.
The fee is a seemingly very reasonably priced $49/year, but subscribers to
the paper version will only have to pay $29/year.  The service will remain
free to all registering by the end of May until July 31, 1996.  The
service will also subsidize itself with advertising.   At about $4/mo.,
the pricing seems very reasonable, and this should give us an even better
glimpse of what people are willing to pay for on the Web.  Stay tuned for
a lot more on this story...
--
NETCOM TO TEAM WITH iCAT to provide Internet access and web hosting
services which will include software for creating online catalogs and
providing secure transactions.  The product will be called NetCat and is
planned for  announcement later this week at Internet World, according to
a Reuters report. Netcom recently announced it hit the 400,000 subscriber
mark.  The company  reported a loss of $6.6 million for the first quarter
even though revenues of $24.1 million for the quarter were an increase of
%221 over the same period one year ago.
--
THE PRODIGY CONTENT MACHINE is on the move.  You can check out some of the
Web sites Prodigy has recently created by going to Prodigy's home page
< http://www.prodigy.com > and selecting the links to the various sites.
Baseball, comedy, "Chat Soup" and more.
--
MICROSOFT'S KINSLEY MAGAZINE will actually turn out to be a REAL magazine
in addition to a Web site.  And they plan to charge for both.  Hey, they
paid Kinsley a LOT of money, and the advertising thing really isn't
working all that well, so you can't really blame them.  The magazine
called "Slate" is a "controlled experiment in how people are willing to
read things. We're  going to offer every possible different option and see
which ones people take," Kinsley said in a story by The Seattle Times.
All versions of Slate will debut this summer.
--
AH SPRING, when a young man's heart turns to, well, Internet World!  See
you next week.


Stock Watch
===========
                                This     %      52      52
                                Week's  Change  Week    Week
Company Name            Ticker  Close   1 Week  High    Low
                        ======  =====   ======  ====    ===
@Net Index              IIX     $252.38  9.5%   $259.85 $185.76
America Online          AMER    $66.13  11.1%   $66.75  $16.75
Apple Computer          AAPL    $24.75  -1.2%   $50.94  $23.00
AT&T                    T       $61.38   0.6%   $68.88  $49.13
BBN Corporation         BBN     $28.13   5.2%   $48.75  $16.50
CMG Information Svcs.   CMGI    $30.50  10.9%   $50.25  $5.50
CompuServe              CSRV    $30.00  -9.1%   $35.50  $30.00
CyberCash Inc.          CYCH    $34.25  13.2%   $64.50  $24.50
Excite Inc              XCIT    $16.88  21.6%   $21.25  $13.13
FTP Software            FTPS    $10.13  11.0%   $40.63  $8.13
H&R Block               HRB     $36.38  -2.0%   $48.88  $31.50
IBM                     IBM     $107.75  2.2%   $128.88 $83.13
Lycos Inc.              LCOS    $18.00  22.0%   $29.25  $14.00
MCI                     MCIC    $28.88   3.6%   $31.13  $19.09
Mecklermedia Corp.      MECK    $17.00   7.9%   $24.38  $7.50
Microsoft               MSFT    $113.50  3.4%   $113.75 $78.63
Netcom                  NETC    $33.00   8.2%   $91.50  $19.22
NetManage               NETM    $12.88  -5.9%   $34.00  $9.38
Netscape Comm. Corp     NSCP    $61.75  11.8%   $87.00  $22.88
News Corp.              NWS     $23.63   3.9%   $25.13  $18.50
Oracle Corp.            ORCL    $34.13   6.7%   $36.66  $19.81
PSINet Inc.             PSIX    $11.63  10.8%   $29.00  $6.75
Sears                   S       $50.50  -1.7%   $53.25  $25.88
Spyglass Inc.           SPYG    $27.13  18.6%   $61.00  $13.25
Sun Microsystems        SUNW    $54.00  11.3%   $57.13  $19.31
UUNET Technologies      UUNT    $44.75   0.6%   $98.75  $21.75
VocalTec LTD            VOCLF   $11.13   4.7%   $20.75  $8.50
Yahoo                   YHOO    $31.75   9.9%   $43.00  $24.50

Disclaimer
==========
I began writing this newsletter in September 1994, at the time I
was working for a technology company now owned by MCI.
In March 1995, I began working for International Business Machines
Corporation.  I speak for myself and not for IBM.



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End of NEWSLTR Digest - 27 Apr 1996 to 28 Apr 1996 - Special issue
******************************************************************