MacFormat España 19/macformat_19.iso/Shareware/Info/Inside Games Update/Inside Games Update.rsrc/TEXT_142.txt

Text File | 1996-06-30 | 12KB | 230 lines

as the new chairman of the board is Charlotte Walker, the president and CEO
of Sanctuary Woods Multimedia Corporation (hmmm, somewhat of a shoe-in??).
The former chairman, Brian Beninger, surrendered his seat. The new
controller for the company is Peter Nichter.



Sierra: A NEW SIERRA ARTIST
From Sierra On-Line comes Print Artist 1500, an upgrade to Print Artist 3.0
for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. Print Artist has its own fan club, PALS
(Print Artist Lovers), who hold an annual convention. These enthusiastic
folk bring together imaginative designs and templates that are incorporated
into Print Artist, such as over 1,500 high-quality graphics, 22 creative
fonts, more than 1,200 professional layouts, thousands of special effects
and an easy-to-use graphical interface.



Sony Corp.: CHIPS AND MOVIES
Video cameras mounted above a multimedia PC for videoconferencing is now,
seemingly, outdated. Sony Corp. said it has developed an ultra small video
camera on a chip that can be directly installed into computer monitors for
videoconferencing. 17.5mm x 9.5mm, this device is also small enough to be
installed in planned future video cellular telephones and personal digital
assistants and personal digital still cameras. Commercialization of the
unit is planned for next year The entire unit is built onto a double-sided
circuit board which sits inside the package, a 52-pin leadless chip carrier
(LCC) ceramic package. The video pickup, a charge coupled device (CCD)
type, and the condenser-resistor and lens are all housed on the upper
surface of the chip. On the reverse side is the timing generator, sample
and hold integrated circuit (IC), and analog to digital (A/D) converter.
Additionally, the company is also working on a companion integrated circuit
that will include YUV digital output, auto white balance, automatic
exposure, auto gain control, and other features.



Symantec: JAVA REFILL
Java continues to drive developers to its realms of programming delight,
especially as Symantec has now released Symantec Cafe 1.2. The language's
popularity certainly is aided by the fact of its xplatform functionality,
with this new update including the JDK 1.0.2, remote debugging, debugger
support for exception handling, and integrated Just-in-Time compiler and
debugger speed improvements. The update is now available for download for
Windows users at http://cafe.symantec.com. The Macintosh version will
release shortly.



Travel Channel: SOUTHERN SPOTLIGHT
One of the most popular sites on the WWW deals with places we can all "get
away." Naturally, just in time for the '96 Olympic Games, The Travel
Channel Online Network is going to be going, in-depth, into all of the
travel and vacation and touring opportunities within Atlanta, Georgia.
You'll find history about the Olympics as well, plus attractions and the
cuisine of the host city. You can reach the site at
http://www.travelchannel.com. There's lots of history in this grand city,
and this site will bring much of this entertaining info to you. Plus you'll
learn about other locations near Atlanta, such as Savannah an Stone
Mountain. This "spotlight" will remain online until August 4th.



TV Ratings: TOP TEN TV SHOWS
The top 10 TV programs, their networks and the ratings are as follows:

 1. Seinfeld, NBC, 14.1
 2. Caroline in the City, NBC, 12.3
 3. ER, NBC,12.2
 4. PrimeTime Live, ABC, 12.1
 5. 20/20, ABC, 12.1
 6. Friends, NBC, 11.3
 7. Dateline NBC (Tuesday),NBC, 11.0
 8. Home Improvement, ABC, 10.8
 9. NBC Sunday Night Movie: A Search for Justice, NBC, 10.8
10. 60 Minutes, CBS, 10.6



Ubi Soft Entertainment: FLYING TO PCS EVERYWHERE
Those who have had important product on video consoles are now eyeing
personal computers with somewhat of a jealous eye. The installed base for
the PC is gaining ground, whether Intel or Motorola based, and this means
there is a marvelous opportunity for companies to port their console hits
to the PC market. One such company is Ubi Soft who are releasing their
Rayman to PCs. Rayman is a video game superhero who run rampant on Sony
PlayStation, Sega Saturn and the Atari Jaguar. A graphic adventure, this
hero now battles more than 60 different critters on six different worlds,
with these nasties ranging from the giant percussion drum to fierce musical
notes. It's up to Rayman to restore peace and harmony throughout the
universe, and there are 70 levels within which he must accomplish this
goal. There are hidden traps and passages that lead to highly unexpected
combat. Plus, your enemies are just not simply reactionary in nature--oh,
no, they LEARN different playing styles and become intelligent in their
opposition. There's more info available on Rayman from Ubi Soft's WWW site
at http://www.ubisoft.com/.



U.S. Congress: THE WEB CATCHES POLITICIANS<B/>
A first for the US Congress--a live broadcast of a hearing took place over
the Internet. The Senate Science, Technology and Space subcommittee sent a
live audio feed of its proceedings about online commerce and encryption
software to hundreds of listeners around the world while 40 people
participated in an online discussion as the hearing progressed. The
broadcast was organized by The Missouri Republican in conjunction with two
groups that have helped to bring online political discourse, the Voters
Telecommunication Watch (http:/www.vtw.org) and the Centre for Democracy
and Technology (http:/www.cdt.org). Progressive Network's Real Audio
software (http:/www.realaudio.com) made the broadcast possible and was used
on many web sites such as the National Public Radio to ABC television, Real
Audio sends out a feed that can be received and played on any computer with
an Internet connection and a sound card.

Wednesday's hearing was the second of three concerning Senate bill 1726, the
Promotion of Commerce Online in the Digital Era Act of 1996, known as the
Pro-Code bill that would ease U.S. export restrictions on software containing
strong encryption features. Software industry officials said the
restrictions cost them billions of dollars a year by hampering their ability
to compete with overseas competitors.



Virtus: XPLATORM 3-D WEBSITE BUILDER
A cross-platform product, 3D Website Builder, has been released by Roderick
Manhattan Group Ltd. of the UK, an independent republisher. This offering
can create 3-D VRML (virtual reality modelling language) worlds on the
Internet using drag-and-drop techniques. North Carolina based Virtus
Corporation, developer of 3-D Website Builder, created these desktop 3-D
virtual reality tools for the Internet to enable folk to create virtual
worlds on the Web without programming skills. Developed for a range of
users, from novice to expert, the purpose of 3-D Website Builder is to
overcome the limitations of 2-D, text-based, Web publishing. The purpose of
building 3-D environments for the Web is to be able to navigate three
dimensional worlds in real-time. 3D Website Builder enables publishers to
create a graphically-rich approach to organizing HTML documents that invite
visitors to navigate the information that occupies these worlds.

Some of the plus factors of 3-D Website Builder are: creating and editing
3D Websites is easier with the intuitive drag-and-drop graphical user
interface; the support for VRML standard that includes shading, in-line
objects, textures, levels of detail and WWW anchor; the multi-platform CD
that contains separate optimized versions for Windows 95, Windows 3.1,
Macintosh and Power Macintosh. The program file formats are also compatible
across Mac and PC platforms. Plus Virtus Voyager, a VRML browser that's the
world's first cross-platform VRML browser, is also included. Lastly, there
are the Free Virtus Galleries which include six, professional 3-D clipart
galleries (a $240 value) with over 1,000 pre-built objects as well as 3-D
Web templates with HTML links, images and more.




Warner Brothers: PLAYING IN A NEW COURT
Basketball players and coaches, earning millions of dollars, now seem to be
the norm instead of the exception. However, some are attempting to stretch
beyond the court--they're heading for Hollywood. The latest superstar to
head for Celluloid is Shaquille O'Neal who will star in a new Warner
Brothers film called Steel. However, this is not Shaquille's first
film--he'll be seen this summer in Kazaam, a family comedy, and has already
appeared in Blue Chips, which starred Nick Nolte. This movie will be based
on the DC Comics character of the same name and will start production in
August in Los Angeles. The move is all about weapons specialist John Henry
Irons who forms an undercover team to develop counter weaponry where he
turns in to his alter ego--Steel. The movie is billed as of the
action/adventure genre.



The Weather Channel: WEATHER GETS A FACE LIFT
A redesign of The Weather Channel's Web site has been completed and is
unveiled for public observation at The Weather Channel Interactive
(http://www.weather.com). With a fresh and intuitive interface and added
graphics for easy navigation, The Weather Channel Interactive
(http://www.weather.com) delivers weather information to more than 200,000
visitors per week.



Worlds Inc.: NEW WORLDS TO VISIT
The ability to visit true, 3D space on the WWW, where you can visit with
avatars and feel part of a virtual community, is highly appealing. IVR, or
Internet Virtual Reality, is becoming MORE of a reality as companies like
Worlds Incorporated upgrade their current VR offerings. Speaking of Worlds
Inc., they have now released an updated version of their Worlds Chat. This
is a 3D, multi-user online community that lets you explore virtual space
with thousands of other WWW users. You interact with other visitors through
avatars. These are personifications of their owners and, best of all, you
do not need highly sophisticated computers to access this technology. Now
known as Worlds Chat Gold 1.0, you now obtain more visual and realistic
representations of the worlds you move through. There are now around 500
rooms you can visit in four new worlds: Desert, Garden, Gothic and Sky, in
addition to the original two worlds, Glee and Sadness. You now may select
from one of the 40 available avatars and you can establish a password that
restricts other visitors from using their name, ensuring that unique
identities are created. You can now also return to your favorite places far
more easily and the distributed server architecture grows as quickly as the
population, ensuring full scalability. There's even whispering! Check it
out at http://www.worlds.net where you can download a demo of this
software.



<B>GRAFFITI ON WEB PAGES<B/>
Cyberspace has its own form of spray-can toting hooligans that have made
trouble for folk such as the British Government, the Nation of Islam, and
the American Psychoanalytic Association. These victims have had their Web
pages defaced, erased, or replaced by these creeps. Apparently the motives
vary--  everything from a 14-year old who explains that it's done to get
revenge or brag to a 17-year old who likens it to a notch on the
bedpost--he just wanted to see how many pages he could get into.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, June 25, 1996, large
companies can afford to pay for continual maintenance of their sites while
small businesses and individual folk use servers that handle multiple
subscribers. Here hackers can get into the multiserver sites by creating
phony user accounts. The most common line of attack is to divine the
server's password with the use of powerful databases that can enter
thousands of words and combinations of letters until the right one opens
the site. Forms that permit user interaction, such as subscription forms,
are the most suseptible. The obvious lack of universal security procedures
are the result of companies and institutions hiring in-house designers or
hiring a recent graduate who often overlook backdoors that are left ajar.



Until next issue, my friends, heartily GAME ON!